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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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It passeth knowledge, that dear love of Thine

Praise of the Lord His Love

English154
1
It passeth knowledge, that dear love of Thine,
My Savior, Jesus; yet this soul of mine
Would of Thy love in all its breadth and length,
Its height and depth, its everlasting strength,
Know more and more.
2
It passeth telling, that dear love of Thine,
My Savior, Jesus; yet these lips of mine
Would fain proclaim to sinners, far and near,
A love which can remove all guilty fear,
And love beget.
3
It passeth praises, that dear love of Thine,
My Savior, Jesus; yet this heart of mine
Would sing that love, so full, so rich, so free,
Which brings a rebel sinner, such as me,
Nigh unto God.
4
But though I cannot sing, or tell, or know
The fullness of Thy love, while here below,
My empty vessel I may freely bring;
O Thou, who art of love the living spring,
My vessel fill.
5
I am an empty vessel—not one thought
Or look of love to Thee I’ve ever brought;
Yet I may come, and come again to Thee,
With this the empty sinner’s only plea,
Thou lovest me.
6
Oh, fill me, Jesus, Savior, with Thy love!
Lead, lead me to the living fount above;
Thither may I, in simple faith draw nigh,
And never to another fountain fly,
But unto Thee.
7
Lord Jesus, when Thee face to face I see,
When on Thy lofty throne I sit with Thee,
Then of Thy love, in all its breadth and length,
Its height and depth, its everlasting strength,
My soul shall sing.

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Cankwaro Samson Kisseka

Lira, Kampala, Uganda

Sep 8, 2026

The Love of God is indeed greater far and hard to comprehend. Psalms 103 Tells us of this very kind of Love our Saviour brought to us. Again Isaiah 55 gives us the depths of who God really is. No wonder his ways are not ours and his thoughts are above us as high as the heavens!

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Don

Pomona, CA, United States

Jun 27, 2026

We bring ourselves as empty vessels, thank you Lord we can always come to you, and you always fill us Lord we love you so much.

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Francis Y Chow

Church In New York CIty, NY, United States

Sep 28, 2025

Oh Lord Jesus we praise You for the Love You have for us!

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Un Hermano

Jul 28, 2025

As the indwelling Spirit,
strengthening us
(through the divine dispensing)
into the inner man

The life-giving Spirit, the compound Spirit, the all-inclusive Spirit, is the indwelling Spirit, strengthening us (through the divine dispensing) into our inner man that Christ may make His home in our hearts, that we may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are, that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God, which is the church (Eph. 3:16-19). In Ephesians 3:16 Paul prayed that God would strengthen us through His Spirit into our inner man. To live in the outer man does not require us to do anything. Every morning when we rise up, we are in the outer man. If we are not watchful, we will be in the outer man the whole day. We talk in the outer man, we laugh in the outer man, we express our attitude in the outer man — we do everything in the outer man. We are just an outer man. But we should live in the inner man. However, this can take place only by our entering into our inner man. According to Ephesians 3:16, the way to enter into the inner man is by the strengthening of the Spirit. The Spirit strengthens us into the inner man.

When we have morning watch and experience a morning revival, we are in the inner man. Before that time we might have wanted to argue with someone in the outer man, but after ten minutes we were in the inner man by being strengthened through the Spirit. However, ten minutes later, we might be back in the outer man. At that point we need to pray. This is why the Bible tells us to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). Only prayer and calling on the name of the Lord can strengthen us into the inner man and keep us in the inner man. This kind of strengthening is also a dispensing. It dispenses the divine element into our being and strengthens us into the inner man that Christ may make His home in our hearts. Christ is in our spirit, but He needs to spread from our spirit into our hearts to make His home there that we may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are, that is, the dimensions of Christ. We need to know this unlimited Christ that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God. The fullness here simply means the manifestation, the expression, of God, which is the church. The church is the expression of God. When Christ makes His home in our hearts, we will be able to know His dimensions. Then we will be filled unto all the fullness of God. This is altogether by the inner dispensing of the Spirit. First, the Spirit strengthens us into the inner man; then the Spirit strengthens us so that Christ may make His home in our being, making us the expression of God, that God may be fully expressed.

The Central Line of
the Divine Revelation
Message 11 (LSM)

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James Smith

Mansfield, Ohio, United States

Dec 14, 2024

It is important to know many things in the Bible are beyond our ability to understand, but we can still experience them. The love of God is certainly one of these things. It is meant to be experienced. We live by faith in this loving God.

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James Smith

Mansfield, Ohio, United States

Nov 19, 2024

This hymn was written by Mary Shekleton. It was written in the mid 1800’s and has passed the test of time. Mary was an invalid and house bound. She did not let this stop her. She started a ministry with others with the same restrictions. This was all done by correspondence. I find this to be inspiring in its self. I’m sure this hymn about her desire to be filled with the love of God strikes a chord with many. “I am an empty vessel not one thought or look of love to thee I’ve ever brought, but I may come and come again to thee with this the empty sinners only plee thou loves me”. These are powerful words!

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Josephine Kabila

Lusaka, Zambia

Apr 15, 2024

Lovely, the song most of us struggled to sing yesterday after the breaking of bread meeting. So I searched for this so I practice singing it well. I have shared with my children so we can practice together.

Thank you so much.

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Maurice Ward

Irving, Texas, United States

Aug 30, 2023

What a revelation!
But though I cannot sing, or tell, or know
The fulness of Thy love, while here below,
My empty vessel I may freely bring;
O Thou, who art of love the living spring,
My vessel fill.

Ephesians 3:8 speaks of the unsearchable riches. All the day long I kept waiting to feel or sense these riches. But to be unsearchable means without trace, beyond comprehension. We cannot simply find these riches in feelings or mind. We just need to receive by faith and enjoy in our mingled spirit.

Hallelujah it passes knowledge, so may we freely bring our empty vessels to be filled.

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Angeline Walton

Solihull, West Midlands, United Kingdom

Jun 7, 2023

A wonderful song! Full of Truth
To know that love of Jesus
MORE AND MORE, so be it Lord 🙏

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Alyssa Lasnier

Mission Viejo, California, United States

Mar 9, 2023

I love this song even if I am only nine it’s so sweet and I love the Lord and I also love the tune and when I first heard this song I loved and kept in singing it and now it is stuck in my head. I bet my hole family will love this song because my family is Christian hope all of you love this song too!

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