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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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Christ the Savior hath ascended

Fullness of the Spirit The Baptism

English277
1
Christ the Savior hath ascended
To the heavens far above,
Crowned with glory and with honor
By the Father God in love;
He hath made Him Head of all things,
His supremacy to prove.
2
From this Christ to God ascended
Hath the Spirit been outpoured,
Poured upon the Church, His Body,
That His members be empow’red;
Thus the Lord of all in heaven
Thru His Church will be adored.
3
In the flesh by incarnation,
Into man He God hath brought;
By His death and resurrection,
Into God He man hath brought;
God and man together mingled,
In Himself is fully wrought.
4
Now in heaven by ascension
He is seated on the throne;
All the lordship, all the headship,
He Himself doth fully own;
And by pouring out His Spirit,
He as such might be made known.
5
By this outpour, His descension
On the Church was realized;
’Tis by this, that in His Spirit
All the Church He hath baptized;
Thus the baptism of the Spirit
Was forever actualized.
6
Hallelujah, ’tis accomplished,
And accomplished once for all!
Hallelujah, we’re included,
All included, great or small!
Praise Him, He hath sent the Spirit
And baptized the Church withal!

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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Un Hermano

Sep 22, 2025

The unsearchable riches of Christ are also related to His position in His ascension. Ephesians 4:8 says that Christ has “ascended to the height, ” that is, to the highest place in the universe. What is the highest place? How shall we measure it? We can neither understand what this place is nor can we measure it. Furthermore, according to 4:8 , when Christ ascended to the height, “He led captive those taken captive and gave gifts to men. ” When Christ ascended to the height, God the Father gave to Him as gifts the ones Christ had taken captive. Having received these gifts, Christ then gave them to the church, His Body. In this verse we also have an aspect of Christ’s unsearchable riches.

Ephesians 1:10 speaks of a “dispensation of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him. ” The heading up of all things in Christ is according to God’s eternal dispensation, according to God’s economy, His administrative arrangement. The economy or dispensation which God purposed in Himself is to head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times. God has made Christ the Head over all things ( Eph. 1:22 ). Through all the dispensations of God in all the ages, all things will be headed up in Christ in the new heaven and new earth. This will be God’s eternal administration and economy. God created the universe for the purpose that at the fullness of the times all things will be headed up in Christ according to His administrative economy. This also is a part of the unsearchable riches of Christ.

The Conclusion of the
New Testament:
God, Christ, and the Spirit,
Message 52 (LSM)

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Un Hermano

Sep 7, 2025

GOD’S SENDING OF THE ASCENDED CHRIST

After presenting Christ as the Healer in a number of different aspects, Peter utters a concluding word in verse 26 : “To you first, God, having raised up His Servant, has sent Him to bless you in turning away each one of you from your wickedness. ” God has sent back the ascended Christ to the Jews first by pouring out His Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Hence, the Spirit God poured out is the very Christ God raised and exalted to the heavens. When the apostles preached and ministered this Christ, the Spirit was ministered to people.

At the time Peter was speaking the word recorded in verse 26 , God’s Servant had ascended to the heavens and was still there. Nevertheless, Peter told the people that God had sent Christ to bless them. What does this mean? Actually, God has received Christ into the heavens. But here Peter says that God has sent this ascended One to the people. In what way did God send the ascended Christ to the Jews? God sent Him by pouring out the Spirit. That was God’s way of sending the ascended Christ to the people. This implies that the outpoured Spirit is actually the ascended Christ Himself. When the outpoured Spirit came to the people, that was Christ, the ascended One, sent by God to them. From this we see that the poured-out Spirit is identical to the ascended Christ. In God’s economy for the experience of His people, the ascended Christ and the poured-out Spirit are one. In God’s economy Christ and the Spirit are one for our enjoyment.

Life-study of Acts

Mensaje 14 (LSM)

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Maria L

Fremont, California, United States

Dec 30, 2024

Hallelujah, the Father has purposed, the Son has accomplished, and the Spirit applies! Lord, we open to Your divine dispensing as the Divine Trinity operating in us and around us for the fulfilment of God’s economy! Praise the Lord 😀

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Jack Petrash

Irving, TX, United States

Oct 26, 2024

This marvelous hymn exalts our glorious Christ in many aspects, including His ascension in Luke 24:51,

His resurrection/ enthronment- in Ephesians 1:19-23: And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the operation of the might of His strength, which He caused to operate in Christ in raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His right hand in the heavenlies, far above all rule and authority and power and Lordship and every name that is named not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and He subjected all things under his feet and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church, Which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all.

Concerning baptism, in Acts 2:4 the believing Jews were baptized in the Spirit. In Acts 10:44-47 the believing Gentiles were baptized.

All this is so that now we can enjoy, experience, and express our all-inclusive, all-extensive Triune God.

All praise, honor, and glory to our God!

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Brian Adamo

San Diego, CA, United States

Dec 14, 2013

This truly is a wonderful hymn. Stanza 3 is my favorite:

In the flesh by incarnation,
Into man He God hath brought;
By His death and resurrection,
Into God He man hath brought;
God and man together mingled,
In Himself is fully wrought.

What a Christ! What a God! What a Church! What a Goal...New Jerusalem!

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