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About Numbered Notation

All steps
  1. The numbers are the notes of a scale
  2. “1=C” tells you where to start
  3. Dots make a note higher or lower
  4. How long each note lasts
  5. 0 means rest
  6. Bar lines and the time signature
  7. Curves: ties and slurs
  8. The words sit under the numbers
  9. Repeat signs and 1. 2. endings
  10. Minor keys: “6=A”
  11. Put it together: a line of a hymn
  12. Check yourself
  13. Try it on a hymn

The numbers are the notes of a scale

Numbered notation (jianpu, 简谱) writes a melody as numbers instead of notes on a staff. You do not need to read music: take one small step at a time and press Play on any example to hear it while each number lights up. Sound only starts when you press Play.

Instead of notes on a staff, each note is a number from 1 to 7. They are the seven steps of the scale you already know: do re mi fa sol la ti. After 7 the scale starts again at 1.

The seven numbers with their names. Press Play and say each name as its number lights up.
Sing along: do re mi fa sol, and back down to do.

If you can sing do re mi, you can already sing every number from 1 to 7. Tap or click any number to hear just that note.

“1=C” tells you where to start

At the top left of the sheet you will see something like 1=C. It means the number 1 (do) is the note C, and every other number counts up from there. 1=G means do is G, so the whole tune sits a little higher. Nothing else changes: the same numbers make the same shape, only higher or lower.

1=C: do is C.
1=G: the same numbers, starting higher.

Not sure where C is? On a piano it is the white key just left of the two black keys. Or ignore the letter and start on any note that is comfortable for your voice: the tune only has to keep its shape. The − and + key buttons on a hymn page shift the key for you.

Dots make a note higher or lower

A dot above a number means one octave higher. A dot below means one octave lower. Two dots mean two octaves. No dot is the middle range, where most of a tune lives. The name stays the same; only the height changes.

The same number at three heights: dot below, no dot, dot above.
A tune that climbs: it starts on a low sol and ends on a high do.

How long each note lasts

Tap your foot at a steady pace: each tap is a beat. A plain number lasts one beat, so you sing a new number on every tap. Dashes, lines and dots change that.

A plain number is one beat

Four numbers, four beats: one number for each tap.

A dash holds the note longer

Each dash adds one beat. The 5 lasts two beats and the 3 lasts four.

A line underneath makes it shorter

One line is half a beat, so two underlined numbers share one beat. (Two lines are a quarter of a beat.)

A dot after makes it half as long again

A dot after a number adds half its length. The first 5 lasts a beat and a half, and the short 3 fills the rest of the second beat.

0 means rest

A 0 is silence for one beat. Keep counting and keep tapping, but do not sing. Dashes after a 0 make the silence longer, just as they hold a note longer.

Sing 1 3 5, stay quiet for one beat, then come back down. Rests light up too, so you can feel the pause.

Bar lines and the time signature

Tall lines cut the music into bars, each holding the same number of beats. The two small numbers at the start, like 4/4 or 3/4, say how many: 4/4 is four beats in every bar, 3/4 is three. The first beat of each bar is the strongest, so lean on it a little. A double line with a thick edge marks the end.

4/4: count 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4. The first beat of each bar sounds a little louder.
3/4: count 1 2 3, 1 2 3, the lilt of a waltz.

Curves: ties and slurs

A curve over numbers joins them. If it joins two of the same number, it is a tie: sing the note once and hold it for both. If it joins different numbers, it is a slur: sing them all on one syllable, gliding from one to the next.

A tie: the 5 is sung once and held across the bar line, six beats in all.
A slur: “Him” is sung on two notes, 3 then 2.

The words sit under the numbers

Each number gets one syllable, written right underneath it. A short dash after part of a word means the word carries on under the next number. If a number has nothing under it, it belongs to a curve or a dash: keep singing the syllable you are on.

Read left to right, one syllable for each number: Twin-kle, twin-kle, lit-tle star.

Repeat signs and 1. 2. endings

A bar line with two dots, :|, means go back and sing that part again, from the matching |: sign (or from the start if there is none). Sometimes the repeat has two endings. Sing ending 1. the first time; on the repeat, skip it and sing ending 2. instead.

Play it: you hear the 1. ending, the repeat, then the 2. ending. Watch the highlight jump back.

Minor keys: “6=A”

A song in a minor key, which usually sounds more serious or tender, is labeled like 6=A instead of 1=C. It means the number 6 (la) is the home note, here A. The numbers keep their usual names; the tune simply feels at home on 6 and often ends there. 6=A uses the same notes as 1=C.

It starts and ends on 6 (la), the home note. Listen to the darker colour.

Put it together: a line of a hymn

This is the first line of hymn 8, “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow”, written in numbered notation. Try the slow tempo first, and sing the words as each number lights up.

1=G in 4/4. Three silent beats, then “Praise” on beat 4. The dots under 7, 6 and 5 mean those notes dip one octave lower.

Check yourself

Four quick questions, with no score and no pressure. Tap an answer to see right away why it is right or wrong. You can always try another answer.

Tap the number that is held the longest.

Tap the 5 that is one octave higher than the first 5.

What does a 0 mean?

Under 1=G, which note is the number 1?

Try it on a hymn

You opened this from a hymn that has a Numbered view, so you can try it right now.

  1. Look at the top left of the sheet: the key, such as 1=D, and the time signature, such as 3/4.
  2. Find the first number and sing it. Then follow the numbers from left to right with the words underneath, one syllable for each number. Press Play in the player to hear the recording while you follow.
  3. Letters above the numbers (C, G7) are chords for a guitarist or pianist. Ignore them while you learn the tune.
  4. To be guided, open the Learn tab and press Play. Under Display, set Learn notation to Numbered (or choose Numbered on the Lead Sheet tab first). For hymns that have numbered lines, each line of numbers scrolls into view in time with the recording while a bouncing ball follows the words; other hymns show the piano notation there. The Speed menu slows it down.

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Abide in Christ—this highest blessing gain

Experience of Christ Fellowship with Him

English1352
1
Abide in Christ—this highest blessing gain;
Each day sweet fellowship with Him maintain.
Abiding, He and we are joined as one;
In constant fellowship, all barriers gone.
2
Abide in Him, anointing then will flow;
In fellowship, the Spirit’s lead we’ll know.
Obeying, we His riches apprehend;
Led by the Spirit, we will be His friend.
3
Abide in Him, the light of grace will shine;
In fellowship, all shadows will decline.
Obey the light, His life in us will grow;
From darkness freed, our heart will comfort know.
4
Abiding, we are strengthened with each breath;
In fellowship, His life will swallow death.
Abiding, all our sighing turns to song;
In fellowship, our heart is gladdened, strong.
5
Abiding, this will Satan’s strength disarm;
In fellowship, the world will lose its charm.
Abiding, we sin’s power need not fear;
In fellowship, the self will disappear.
6
Abiding, thus conformed to Him we’ll be;
In fellowship, His life fills constantly.
Abiding, we experience His power;
In fellowship, His riches, hour by hour.
7
Abiding, Lord, for Thee my spirit yearns;
In fellowship, Thy Spirit in me burns,
That all my being may be lost in Thee
And with Thee mingled through eternity.

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Joe

United States

May 9, 2026

For you were called based on freedom only, brothers. Not the freedom unto instigation to the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this, “You will love your neighbor as yourself. ” But if you bite and devour one another, watch that you would not be consumed by one another. But I say, Walk by spirit and you would by no means fulfill the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these oppose each other so that you would not do the things that you would will. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. And the works of the flesh are manifest, which are such things as fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, sects, Envyings, bouts of drunkenness, carousings, and things like these, of which I tell you beforehand, even as I have said before, that those practicimg such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Galatians 5:13-25)

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Un Hermano

Jan 28, 2026

A MUTUAL ABODE

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The tabernacle is God’s dwelling place. However, it is not adequate to say that the tabernacle is merely a dwelling for God. Actually, the tabernacle is a universal dwelling place for both God and man. Consider the New Jerusalem. Will God be the only one dwelling in the New Jerusalem? No, God and all His redeemed people will be dwelling in the New Jerusalem. Hence, it will be a dwelling place for both God and man. This dwelling place is a mutual abode, a mutual dwelling place.

In John 14:23 the Lord Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him. ” Here the word abode is used. The abode here is actually a mutual abode. We abide in the Lord, and He abides in us.

For there to be a mutual abode, the Lord must first become our dwelling place. When we abide in Him, He surely is our abode. Then as He abides in us, we are His abode. The Lord spoke concerning this mutual abode when He said in 15:4 , “Abide in Me and I in you. ” Therefore, the Lord is our dwelling place, and we become His dwelling place. The New Jerusalem will be such a mutual dwelling place, a place where we will abide in God and He will abide in us. Even today we may experience the mysterious fact of abiding in the Lord and the Lord abiding in us. Our real home is the Lord. The Lord is our dwelling place, and we dwell in Him.

The Fulfillment of the Tabernacle
and the Offerings in the Writings of John
cHAPTER 22 (LSM)

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Un Hermano

Jan 28, 2026

The Union and Mingling of All of God’s Redeemed with the Processed and Consummated Triune God

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The New Jerusalem is the union and mingling of all of God’s redeemed through all the four ages of the forefathers, the law, grace, and the kingdom with the processed and consummated Triune God. It is thus a union and mingling of the redeemed with the redeeming God.

We are not only united to the Triune God—we are mingled with Him. We may use the digestion of food as an illustration of mingling. The food that we eat, digest, and assimilate is eventually mingled with us. Apart from such a mingling, the food could not become our element. It is by being mingled with us that the food becomes us. The Bible tells us that Christ is eatable and that we should eat Him (John 6:51 , 57). To eat Him is to have Him mingled with us.

In John 15:4a the Lord Jesus said, “Abide in Me and I in you. ” This mutual abiding, this mutual dwelling, is a matter of coinherence. In today’s Christianity, Bible teachers may use the word coexist but seldom use the word coinhere. To coexist is different from to coinhere. To coexist is to exist together at the same time. To coinhere is to exist in one another, to dwell in one another. Coinherence, being a mutual dwelling or abiding, is therefore a mingling.

The New Jerusalem is a mutual dwelling for God and His redeemed. Actually, the New Jerusalem signifies that God as the temple (Rev. 21:22) is our dwelling and that God’s redeemed as His tabernacle (v. 3) are His dwelling place. From this we can see that the New Jerusalem is not only a union of the redeeming God with His redeemed people but also a mingling of God with His redeemed ones.

The God-men

Chapter 4 (LSM)

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Maria L

Fremont, California, United States

Jun 3, 2025

Praise the Lord! Abiding in Christ is highest blessing gain. What a blessing it is for us to have the Triune God as our blessing! Hallelujah, we believers in Christ are a blessed people, for God blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies! 😀

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James Smith

Mansfield, Ohio, United States

Nov 2, 2024

Abiding is going into the good land to live. Abiding is to make our home somewhere not just visit, not just a Quick Look to check it out. That’s what the spy’s did in Joshua’s time. We learn to abide in the church life. This is a journey. This is our Christian life! This is the highest Christian experience! We must be like those who gave a good report to encourage each one to enter in. He is a rich God. We can experience Him with other travelers in the church life. It is a spiritual journey that we take together by FAITH. But First we must start see how important fellowship is with God and the brothers and sisters. I’m beginning to see a little of what abiding means. This hymn shows us all the rich experiences we have when we abide. Lord make this my experience! I have seen something. Now make it real to me!

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Steve

Fountain Valley, California, United States

Jan 1, 2021

This hymn is full of rich truths about maintaining the abiding life, of fellowship with Jesus, and what riches the believer knows in this life and the one to come. Meditate on each stanza carefully, for they are your life, the abundant life Christ came to impart by His own life in us.

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Betty Jane Bonn

Dunlap, Illinois, United States

Sep 29, 2012

Another familiar hymn that speaks of the Lord's abiding presence is "Constantly Abiding." I've known this hymn since I was born again in 1955 and it's always a cheerful blessing to my heart.

There's a peace in my heart that the world
never gave,
A peace it can not take away;
Tho' the trials of life may surround like
a cloud,
I've a peace that has come there to stay!

Chorus:

Constantly abiding, Jesus is mine;
Consantly abiding, rapture divine;
He never leaves me lonely,
Whispers O so kind: "I will never leave
thee,"
Jesus is mine.

All the world seemed to sing of a Savior
and King,
When peace sweetly came to my heart;
Troubles all fled away and my night turned
to day,
Blessed Jesus, how glorious Thou art!

This treasure I have in a temple of clay,
While here on His footstool I roam;
But He's coming to take me some glorious
day,
Over there to my heavenly home!

God bless you all with His presence and His name, Jehovah Shammah, which means the Lord is there." (Ezekiel 48:35)

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Charles Hennessy

Tucson, AZ, United States

Jul 18, 2012

Excellent hymn - Christ as the thick, rich dairy-fresh cream; a going on from H437 and comparable to H564.

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