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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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I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend

Assurance and Joy of Salvation Loved by the Lord

English288
1
I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
He loved me ere I knew Him;
He drew me with the cords of love,
And thus He bound me to Him.
And round my heart still closely twine
Those ties which naught can sever,
For I am His, and He is mine,
Forever and forever.
2
I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
He bled, He died to save me;
And not alone the gift of life,
But His own self He gave me.
Naught that I have my own I call,
I hold it for the Giver;
My heart, my strength, my life, my all,
Are His, and His forever.
3
I’ve found a Friend, oh, such a Friend!
So kind, and true, and tender,
So wise a Counsellor and Guide,
So mighty a Defender!
From Him who loves me now so well,
What power my soul can sever?
Shall life or death, or earth or hell?
No! I am His forever.

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Dwyane Hawker

Guyana

Dec 7, 2018

Please remember me in prayers.

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Enoth Atamba Bitanuzire I

Kampala, Uganda

Nov 8, 2018

i had sinned against God by consulting sorcery... He demonstrated His love to me by directing to repentance through withheld opportunities, while at the same time telling me that He has a great purpose for my life to serve Him... when I came before Him and the Saviour and asked for forgiveness and redemption and redeployment, He in the Father and the Son came through for me 100% ... and this is "my song", even in my mother tongue Ruhororo (Runyakitara)...

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Tokunbo

Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria

Sep 2, 2018

Awesome hymn. It ministers peace to my soul always.

Yes we have a Friend. A selfless one who gave His Life for us and by His Grace nothing and I mean nothing will take us from His side. Hallelujah!

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Abraham. Mafuta

Kinshasz, Congo

Jun 26, 2018

This beautiful hymn is repeatedly and endlessly singing in my heart. Thinking about the finished work of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for salvation of the whole humanity makes it the best hymn ever. I thank God for such a loving and carring friend.

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Suzette Campbell

Brooklyn, New York, United States

Oct 20, 2017

This is the best of the best hymns I have ever come across, it speaks as if I had written it. All praise to my redeemer Christ Jesus. My heart is inviting a good matter.

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Steve Miller

Detroit, Michigan, United States

Dec 26, 2016

It is an interesting fact that many of our beautiful hymns were written in Scotland by men who were ministers in the Church of Scotland or in the United Free Church. At the time most of these hymns were written, the Church of Scotland frowned on the singing of what they termed "these human himes". For instance, the Christian World was singing this song years before it was accepted and sung in the Church of Scotland or even by the congregation where the Godly author ministered.

The Rev. J. G. Small was born in Edinburgh. He wrote many other hymns, but almost all have been forgotten except this one. This hymn undoubtedly is the personal experience of its author, and many a Christian can testify that this hymn has either been the means, through the Holy Spirit, of bringing him to Christ, or it has warmed and blessed him as he has journeyed through a cold and heartless world, to the New Jerusalem.

When an infidel or an atheist, who has been fighting God for many years, humbles himself, asks forgiveness, and accepts Christ as his Savior, this is truly a miracle of grace. A young man from Dundee, Scotland left his Godly mother and, as he hoped to do, got away from her prayers and went away to New York. But his mother never ceased praying for her erring son. She wrote to him on one occasion to tell him that Moody and Sankey were returning from Scotland to New York, and she asked him to promise to go to hear them. He went to please his mother. Sankey sang about his Friend who have himself for the sinner. The infidel, who had talked and lectured against Him whom he knew not, was pierced in his heart. He asked for an interview with Mr. Sankey, saying, "I do not know why I am here." Mr. Sankey saw the man's apparent shame and grief, and he said, "My dear friend, it is an answer to your mother's prayer. She may be praying for you at this very hour. Now do not delay any longer. Yield to Christ, and He will receive you." The man after prayer and confession took Mr. Sankey by the hand and said, "By the grace of God, I take Jesus Christ as my Savior now." Mr. Sankey told him to write his mother at once.

Some days later Mr. Sankey met the young convert again and asked, "Did you write that letter to your mother?" He replied, "I did, but not until after I had wired her. In my dispatch I just said, 'I've found Jesus', and signed my name on it. My dear old mother cabled back to me, 'Bless the Lord, O my Soul'." - More Living Hymn Stories by Wilbur Konkel

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Helena

Accra, Ghana

Aug 17, 2016

Yes, I am Yours forever. Thank You Father, Thank You Jesus, Thank You blessed Holy Spirit for demonstrating such great LOVE for even me. For making me a friend Jesus, and joint heir Father.

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James Irwin

Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

Jul 29, 2016

When disappointments come, when life seems unfair, this Friend comes alongside me time and again to bring comfort hope and cheer. Thank You Lord!

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Jean Patience

Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa

Apr 11, 2016

I am Yours, and You are mine, O Jesus, forever and forever.

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Martin Benjamin-Addy

Accra, Greater Accra, Ghana

Jul 10, 2015

This hymn is one that reveals the Love, Nature and Character of God to me in such a special way that words are not enough to express my feelings. The tune I sing with was taught to me by the Holy Spirit before I came across the words of the hymn. I can say that this hymn was specially written for me. Thank You Dear Holy Spirit, You are such a wonder.

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