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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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Blessed assurance

Assurance and Joy of Salvation Born of the Spirit

English308
1
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
 
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
2
Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
3
Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

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Raquel Bennett - Hawley

Spring Valley, NY, United States

Mar 25, 2013

All time classic and favorite my grandmother and great grandmother would sing this to be as a child. I sing this to this day.

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Teresa

Vancouver, WA, United States

Mar 13, 2013

I am a small girl. Last night mom gave all the kids a bath and put curlers in the girls hair, then ironed our dresses and got my brothers clothes ready too. All six of us.

Mom, Dad and the four of us kids, sit in the pews singing along as the congregation sings too. It is a sunny day outside, and when we go out there is a slight wind. My dress blows up just enough to scare me, but I see flowers from a crap apple tree fly by me. I watch them float and swirl in the breeze.The air is fragrant.

I skip to the car in my Sunday shoes. The car, a 55 black chevy shines in the church parking lot. Mom has a roast in the oven at home.

I'm happy and hungry.

Blessed Assurance. I love this song and the memories it gave me. Thank you.

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Ugwu Samuel

Lagos, Nigeria

Mar 8, 2013

As I listened to a testimony in my church of some one that his wife gave birth to twins after 10 years of their marriage. During the testimony time he request that BLESSED ASSURANCE be sung in church for him. As the song was going on tear was all over my eyes. Later same day during our communion service my Pastor Chris of Christ embassy declared that the month of March is for us a month of singing. Since that moment till now I have been singing this song. What a wonderful song. My inner person has been enjoying the song. Glory to God.

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Faith

Lagos, Imo State, Nigeria

Feb 28, 2013

As a Catholic I so much cherish this song because it always inspires me whenever I'm going through pain the Holy Spirit will whisper the song to me. This song is my source of Joy. I always Thank the Lord for the saint He used to compose this sweetest song. Blessed Assurance is the best so far. Thanks.

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Barry

La Verne, CA, United States

Feb 6, 2013

God is so good. There is nothing we can do to make Him love us any more or any less than He already does. The true "blessed assurance" of His love.

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Carol

Everett, WA, United States

Feb 5, 2013

"Blessed Assurance" stands the test of time. It humbles me to know others have been visiting and commenting here for more than ten years...and I just found it tonight. Like many others, I remember my dad singing it at the top of his capacity. I can hear his voice as if it is yesterday, now silenced for 25 years. This song was his comfort in WWII and all through his life including the loss of my birth mother, and his new life with my step mom and all eight of us kids. I love the words; they are food for the weary.

Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

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Franklyn

Ternopil, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine

Dec 30, 2012

Am assured by the assurances of this hymn that Jesus is mine. May His name continue to be praised as we worship Him with this hymnal, Amen.

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Novlette

Scarborough, Ontario, Canada

Nov 29, 2012

What a peaceful song.My grandmother always love to sing this song. RIP grandma Iris, I miss you so much. Things is not the same since you pass, everyone is drifting apart. I continue to lift my head high, and make sure that the Lord is in the center of everything I do. With Christ all things a possible.

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Marlene C. Block

Beresford, S.D., United States

Nov 10, 2012

What a wonderful song, my husband has now passed. It was one of the songs he repeatedly sang. The words were not always correct, but oh how he sang that song. I am assured Bob is singing for Jesus now. As believers, Blessed Assurance and a new resurrection is ours.

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Amber Walters

Durham, NC, United States

Oct 2, 2012

I was just talking about Fanny Crosby the other day. When life handed her a bad deal (becoming blind at the hands of a quack doctor)...she did not become bitter but, instead, gave praise to God for her lot in life. Yes, she did do what she could with what she had and oh, how it has blessed us! I thank God for her, for her life and for her gifts that she shared. May we all learn a lesson in this: even in the "dark times" God has a purpose and we can have hope in Him. We can trust Him.

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