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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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Come, Thou Fount of every blessing

Assurance and Joy of Salvation Saved by Grace

English319
1
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand’ring from the face of God;
He, to save my soul from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
2
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.
Teach me, Lord, some rapturous measure,
Meet for me Thy grace to prove,
While I sing the countless treasure
Of my God’s unchanging love.
3
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love:
Take my heart, oh, take and seal it
With Thy Spirit from above.
Rescued thus from sin and danger,
Purchased by the Savior’s blood,
May I walk on earth a stranger,
As a son and heir of God.

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Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Oct 10, 2023

Apparently there were two Robert Robinsons living at the same time in England in the 1700s. Both were dissenters from the Anglican Church. It seems a little unclear about who wrote this hymn and if the story is even true. (Hopefully one of my more knowledgeable ancient-hymn writer friends can clarify this mystery. ) At any rate, what struck me this morning was the phrase, “tune my heart to sing Thy praise. ” It hit me that as followers of the Lord, we sometimes get off track or down in the dumps and that it may be because we get “out of tune“ with God. So it’s very appropriate for us to ask Him to put our hearts and lives back “in tune” with him!

L. Codington

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Baba Dr.Ruhamah

Nairobi, Kenya

Sep 22, 2023

Once we were not a people, now we are. Once we had not received Mercy , now we have. Bless God for the gift of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, He has transferred us from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of His dear Son

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David O Penny

Memphis, TN, United States

Sep 7, 2023

It is interesting that we find no reference in the New Testament that we owe anything to God and not even to HIS grace. If we did it would only be a debt of Love - which we cannot pay. But then God never says we are debtors to him because he knows we cannot pay a debt. That is the essence of Grace, it is all God's doing, based upon HIS character and not upon ours. We are saved by God's grace through our faith and we are kept by God's grace alone. Therefore, all God requires is faith alone in Christ alone. Our part is simply to believe in him and what he has done by dying to pay for our sins and being raised from the dead. ONLY BELIEVE ! Anything more than faith is works and God does not recognize our efforts to justify ourselves by doing anything. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4/ Ephesians 2:8 and 9 / Acts 16:30 31

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Yetunde Kehinde

Isolo, Lagos, Nigeria

Jul 24, 2023

I love this song make me think of Loving Our GOD is to have sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins.. ... take my heart Lord, take and seal it .. seal it for the court above....

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Gary

Meriden, KS, United States

Apr 17, 2023

A beautiful Celtic version of this song. Search on YouTube for “Come Thou Fount Celtic Worship” and you’ll find it.

I listened to it then began reading your comments from around the world. So uplifting and exalting to our Lord Jesus.

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Anonymous

Austin, Texas, United States

Apr 2, 2023

May I walk on earth a stranger,

As a son and heir of God!

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Anitha Nokku

Tustin, California, United States

Mar 23, 2023

Thank you for your abounding grace and mercy Lord far reaching me. Take control of my wandering heart seal me with your Spirit.

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Ray

Waco, TX, United States

Dec 27, 2022

God's promise to the wanderer, the outcast: Neh. 1:9. Thank You, Father for "Streams of mercy, never ceasing."

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SB

New Haven, CT, United States

Jan 29, 2022

This hymn starts with “ Come thou fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing thy praise”. The theme is to come to the Lord, and to “meet” our Lord in a personal way. Second stanza goes

“O to grace how great a debtor
  Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,
  Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee.
Teach me, Lord, some rapturous measure,
  Meet for me Thy grace to prove,
While I sing the countless treasure
  Of my God’s unchanging love. ”

“Meet” here is very meaningful. The writer is asking the Lord to teach him some rapturous measure in his praise, specifically he desires to “meet” with the Lord, to come face to face with the Lord, and to be joined with the Lord. Such an encounter with the Lord is indeed rapturous! By fully opening to the Lord as the all-sufficient one, the Lord can then dispense Himself into us to “meet” our needs in all our situations (prone to wonder, prone to leave the God I love, and walking on this earth as a stranger - stanza 3), so we can prove that we live because of the grace of God.

This theme of desiring to “meet” with the Lord, to come face to face with the Lord, even to join ourselves with the Lord, is richly expressed in other parts of the hymn, such as “Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, Bind my wand’ring heart to Thee”, and “Take my heart, oh, take and seal it, With Thy Spirit from above”.

Oh Lord develop such a strong desire in me to meet with You every day, to come to You face to face, even to be joined as one with You!

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Monica

Ohio, United States

Oct 18, 2021

"He, to save my soul from danger,
Interposed His precious blood"
"Rescued thus from sin and danger,
Purchased by the Savior’s blood,"

THE BLOOD OF JESUS kills covid and covers us with HIS everlasting unconditional Love, Grace and Mercy. We are purchased by THE BLOOD OF JESUS and HE saved us from our sins. JESUS overcame the world, nothing can hurt us. HE never leaves us nor forsakes us and HE knows all things.

JESUS IS THE ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING.

PRAISE AND THANK THE LORD FOREVER.

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