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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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Loved with everlasting love

Assurance and Joy of Salvation Loved by the Lord

English284
1
Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know;
Spirit, breathing from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so.
Oh, this full and perfect peace!
Oh, this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine.
2
Heaven above is softer blue,
Earth around is sweeter green;
Something lives in every hue
Christless eyes have never seen:
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow,
Flow’rs with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know,
I am His, and He is mine.
3
Things that once were wild alarms
Cannot now disturb my rest;
Closed in everlasting arms,
Pillowed on the loving breast.
Oh, to lie forever here,
Doubt and care and self resign,
While He whispers in my ear,
I am His, and He is mine.
4
His forever, only His:
Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss
Christ can fill the loving heart.
Heaven and earth may fade and flee,
Firstborn light in gloom decline;
But, while God and I shall be,
I am His, and He is mine.

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Eva Asante

Falkirk, Stirlingshire, United Kingdom

Feb 26, 2020

LED BY GRACE THIS LOVE TO KNOW. Only by Grace, Only by Grace!!!

Oh what a great blessing to know I am His and He is mine!!!! Thank You Yashua for paying the debt I couldn’t pay.

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Samuele Scandurra

Birmingham

Dec 13, 2019

I'm His and He is mine! Oh what bliss, oh what joy, oh what mistery divine! My soul with my spirit go up to warship this amazing God who was, is and will going to be.

The eternal and trascendent God becomes the God with us (me) and the God in me. All this happen because Jesus the eternal Son of God took man's form, He became like me, died on the cross where He nailed all my sins, so that I could become like Him. Now nothings and no anyone can disturb my peace. I am His and He is mine. Alleluia

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Becky Sanchez

Alsip, IL, United States

Aug 18, 2019

Things that once were wild alarms

Cabnot now disturb my rest

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Di

Bristol, England, United Kingdom

Apr 14, 2019

Absolutely amazing hymn!
Overwhelmed by the love of God, for me!
Why such love!

My brother led me to Jesus, I was born again in the room I was born in.

He spoke of John 3v 16, saying "personalize it Di. not that God so loved the world, although He did, but that God so loved Di."

Overwhelmed by the love of God! Was then, in 1955, still am.

That verse is etched forever, on our grave stone in local Crematorium where my husband of 50 years is buried.

This truth remains for all time! Loved with everlasting love!!

Do you know Him? Are the words of this hymn your experience?

They can be!

God bless you with His salvation & may the truths of this glorious hymn become your own personal experience!

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Samuel Philips

Carrollton, Texas, United States

Jul 29, 2018

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 1 John 3:1 Thank You Precious Saviour for Your amazing Love with which You have loved me.

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Meryl Dobson

Cardiff

Jun 18, 2018

I love, love, love this hymn. It says it all.
Heaven and earth may fade and flee,
Firstborn light in gloom decline,
But while God and I shall be,
I am His and He is mine.

He is one sure constant in my life. My Rock, my Redeemer, my Saviour, my all in all and He loves me. Hallelujah!

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Frank Alcamo

Oceanside, New York, United States

Apr 30, 2018

Oh to live this way all the time. I thank God for these song writers who really knew the Lord in a deep and intimate way. They wrote about their beautiful experiences with the Lord so that we can benefit by these beautiful words. Their is such beautiful Theology in Hymns such as these. May God help us to pray over these words so that we too may learn to live this way. Too many Christians sing thoughtlessly over a Hymn such as this without giving much thought as to the fact that God wants us to truly know HIM in this wonderful way. God help us all to pray earnestly over the words of these wonderful hymns and over HIS wonderful Bible so that we can experience HIM in all HIS fullness Ephesians 3:19.

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Leigh Powell

United Kingdom

Apr 21, 2018

This hymn about the love of God is sung worldwide. But God's love is demonstrated chiefly by His Son, Jesus Christ, taking away our sins on the cross and dying for us (John 3 verse 16). Born again Christians experience a great hope in the gospel and through whatever life has to throw at them, as the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto them ( Romans 5 verse 5).

God's love is completely and infinitely superior to that of mankind. And we demo are our love to God by obeying Him from by keeping His commandments as Jesus Christ is God (John 15 verse 14).

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William Jeng

Irvine, CA, United States

Oct 25, 2017

What a sweet hymn this is. Something lives in every hue. This morning as I spent my morning time, I’m so happy that He loved me through the day-to-day supply of grace, and brought me into the church.

Everything we see outside, the blue sky, the green grass... once we see Christ, our sight will not be the same as before. Our God is all around us! He lives in every hue, every color we see. In every living things & in all of our surroundings, there’s something of Christ to be found. Christ is the reality of all things! Lord be so real to us today!

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Arturo luera

Oceanside, CA, United States

Apr 15, 2017

These hymns are real good.

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