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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 Jesus, gladly do our lips express

Praise of the Lord Satisfaction with Him

English212
1
Lord Jesus, gladly do our lips express
Our heart’s deep sense of all Thy worthiness;
Thou risen One, the Holy and the True,
We give Thee now the praise so justly due.
2
Thou giv’st us, Lord, once more to taste down here
The joy Thy presence brings, its warmth and cheer;
With great delight we ’neath Thy shadow rest;
Thy fruit is sweet to those Thy love has blest.
3
Thou wast alone, till like the precious grain
In death Thou layest, but didst rise again;
And in Thy risen life a countless host
Are “all of one” with Thee, Thy joy and boast.

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Ben Small

Fairdih, Ohio, United States

May 10, 2026

Amen

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Un Hermano

Dec 2, 2025

JOHN’S EMPHASIS ON LIFE

“We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that we might know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20).

This verse is the conclusion to 1 John. It is a strong declaration that Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God and who has come, is the true God and eternal life. At the beginning of this Epistle we are told that the One who was with the Father in eternity and was manifested in time, and who was seen and handled by the apostles, is the Word of life who has been reported to us as eternal life. Then, at the end of the Epistle, we have this verse quoted above, which tells us that the very One who has come to us and in whom we are is the true God and eternal life.

What a bold word is this! Though Paul wrote fourteen letters in all, and though he told us that Christ is our life, he was not as emphatic as John here in declaring that this very person is life to us.

There is a strong emphasis in the New Testament that God’s intention is to give Christ, His Son, to us as life. When we believed in Him, we received Him not only as our Redeemer and Savior but even the more as our life. I keep repeating this because, even though the New Testament stresses it, it is almost unheard of in Christian circles.

What Christianity emphasizes to those who are saved is the improvement of their behavior. They are told that since they are saved and are children of God, they need to behave in a way that will glorify God. The apostle John, however, in his mending ministry stresses life. “We report to you... life. ” This is the thought with which he opens 1 John.

The same emphasis is found in the Gospel of John: “In the beginning was the Word,... and the Word was God... In Him was life” (1:1 , 4). In 10:10 the Lord Jesus declared, “I have come that they may have life and may have it abundantly. ” In 14:6 He said, “I am... the life. ” In 11:25 He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. ” John writes boldly, telling us that Jesus Christ the Son of God is life to us.

THE INDWELLING CHRIST

Some may think that we make Christ too low when we say that He is in us. Christ, they say, has been highly exalted by the Father. He is seated on the throne far above all. How could we demean Him by saying that He dwells in us pathetic, low human beings? They may want to keep Christ in His exaltation, but Christ would respond, “Yes, I am far above all, but I am omnipresent. I am indeed in the heavens, exalted to the throne. But don’t keep Me up here. I want to leave the mountaintop and go down to the valley to be with My people. I like being in them. I am in them. Whatever they are doing, wherever they go, I like being in them. ”

To teach that Christ does not indwell His people indicates that some Bible verses are being ignored. At the end of Matthew, before the ascension, the Lord Jesus told His disciples to go and disciple all the nations, adding, “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age” (28:19-20). He did not say that He would be with them or that He had been with them. No. He said, “I am with you. ” Go with Me, because I am with you! The Lord is still on earth today. He is within us.

Those who reject the indwelling Christ claim that Christ is too great to be contained in small, puny man. Such logic must be condemned. The Bible clearly gives us the Lord’s words, “Abide in Me and I in you” (John 15:4). It also says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). Yes, He is great. No one is greater. Yet He is small enough for us to contain Him. Hallelujah! We can contain the great Christ. He is unlimited, yet He is within us. He is our life.

GOD’S DESIRE THAT WE LIVE CHRIST

Dear saints, be deeply impressed that Jesus Christ is your life. God does not want you to improve your behavior; He wants you to live Christ. He does not want you to begin loving your wife and no longer hate her; He wants you to live Christ. As you live Him, you will love others. Whatever you are doing, God wants you to live Christ. Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20) and, “To me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). To me, to live is not love. It is not humility. It is not frankness or kindness. To me to live is Christ. Christ is our life; He must become our living.

We need to pray in a definite way. “Lord, I want to live You. Keep me in Your Spirit so that I never forget that You are my life. When I am about to lose my temper, remind me that You are my life. When I am about to love someone, remind me that You are my life. When I am about to act in a humble way, remind me that You are my life. When I smile, remind me that You are my life. ”

This must be our prayer not just once but over and over again. Before we begin our day, we should tell the Lord, “Remind me during the whole day that You are my life. In dealing with my children or in dealing with my parents, I want to take You as my life. I know You do not want me to try to improve my behavior. Your desire is to have Yourself lived out of me. Keep this before me all day long whatever I am doing. O Lord, remind me that You are my life. ”

The Mending Ministry of John
Chapter 7 The Fellowship of Life
CWWL, 1980, vol. 2 (LSM)

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Frank Pytel

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Nov 8, 2017

In the past, in our corrupted union with the enemy of God, “Snake venom dripped from our lips” (Rom. 3:13, NLT). Now in union and fellowship with the Beloved Christ, He can declare, “Your lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb” (S. of S. 4:11). “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” (Psa. 19:14). “Lord Jesus, gladly do our lips express

our heart’s deep sense of all Thy worthiness”!

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