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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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Lord of glory, we adore Thee

Praise of the Lord His Glory

English144
1
Lord of glory, we adore Thee!
Christ of God, ascended high!
Heart and soul we bow before Thee,
Glorious now beyond the sky:
Thee we worship, Thee we praise—
Excellent in all Thy ways.
2
Anointed King, with glory crownèd,
Rightful Heir and Lord of all!
Once rejected, scorned, disownèd,
E’en by those Thou cam’st to call:
Thee we honor, Thee adore—
Glorious now and evermore.
3
Lord of life! to death once subject;
Blesser, yet a curse once made;
Of Thy Father’s heart the object,
Yet in depths of anguish laid;
Thee we gaze on, Thee recall—
Bearing here our sorrows all.
4
Royal robes shall soon invest Thee,
Royal splendors crown Thy brow;
Christ of God, our souls confess Thee
King and Sov’reign even now!
Thee we rev’rence, Thee obey—
Own Thee Lord and Christ alway.

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Un Hermano

Nov 11, 2025

Date: September 7, 1947, Lord’s Day morning Place: Foochow, Fukien

The first stanza of hymn #144 in Hymns says,
Lord of glory, we adore Thee!
Christ of God, ascended high!
Heart and soul we bow before Thee,
Glorious now beyond the sky:
Thee we worship, Thee we praise—
Excellent in all Thy ways.

This hymn says “Christ of God. ” We are familiar with the term “Son of God, ” but we seldom say “the Christ of God. ” The Christ of God means the One anointed by God and sent by God to accomplish His work. In the original language, the word for Christ is Christos. The word for Christians is Christianos, which indicates that Christians are those who belong to Christ.

The first stanza of hymn #38 in Hymns says,
Of all the gifts Thy love bestows,
Thou Giver of all good!
E’en heav’n itself no richer knows
Than Jesus and His blood.

This hymn speaks of the vastness of God’s riches. We have to wait until that day before we can fully prove the value of God’s love. Some people think that it is good enough for God to give us heaven. However, heaven is not the best thing that a person can have. If a man is just satisfied with heaven, he is limiting God’s love. He is in reality limiting God’s love to heaven. Some people say that they will be satisfied with a small corner in heaven. These people are limiting God’s love to a small corner. However, our God is not stingy. His grace is abundant, both in the past and the present and in the future as well. God sends the rain and the wind in free and full measure. God does not mind giving us a little more than we need. If God were to exercise restriction, it would be a terrible thing for us. Miss M. E. Barber once wrote a hymn that says,

There is always something over,
When we taste our gracious Lord;
Every cup He fills o’erfloweth,
Rich supply He doth afford.
Nothing narrow, nothing stinted,
Ever issued from His store;
To His own He gives full measure,
Running over, evermore,
To His own He gives full measure,
Running over, evermore.
( Hymns, #595, stanza one)

The water that Christ gives is living water. Man only has well water. Well water can never be compared to living water. John 4 says that “the well is deep” and that there is “no bucket” (v. 11). Under these circumstances, man continues to be thirsty.

The Resumption of Watchman Nee's Ministry

Chapter 2 CWWN, vol. 57 (LSM)

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Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Oct 28, 2019

“Richard Holden formerly an Anglican clergyman. He went out to Portugal in the Lord’s work. His letters to his mother giving reasons for leaving the Church of England, had in its time a wide circulation. And he wrote the hymn, ‘Lord of glory we adore Thee”.

“His departure to be with Christ is an example of the faithfulness and sustaining grace of God towards those who obey His call to serve Him in foreign lands, and of His presence with and rich blessings upon them. This is a quote verbatim from Napoleon Noel as there is no other data about Richard Holden ( ? -1886)

His wife wrote this letter after his departure in August 24, 1886.

“ Yes my dear husband is at home now with the One he loved so well waiting with Him till He come. It was at first a trial that my dear husband left me, this is almost the only time I can remember in all the happy years since the Lord gave us to each other, without ‘Good bye’. There was nothing of death or sadness in that sickroom, he was so happy, so cheerful. All who came to say goodbye— the dear saints and many others, — left thinking he would yet be among them; he looked so bright; the Doctor alone, gave me no hope, and oh, he was so kind. My dear husband was so fond of him. ‘Doctor, ’ he said, ‘A deathbed is not time to seek the Lord, what would I do if I had to come to Him is all this pain? No, thank God, it is all bright, all joy. 38 years I have known the Lord, and I have never had a doubt of my soul’s salvation. Now it is all joy to go. Not even my wife, dearly as I love her, or my boy hold me back. It is all bright, all joy. ”

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Charis

Lagos, Nigeria

Feb 18, 2018

Lord of glory, we adore Thee! Christ of God, ascended high!

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Alex Abler

Baltimore, MD, United States

Jun 1, 2013

This one is a hidden gem! The words, meter and emotion of the hymn all flow beautifully together.

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Archie Gillespie

Hampshire, UK

Sep 29, 2006

What a delightful expression of the glories of the Son of God.

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