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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.

Open this guide as its own page

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As pants the hart for cooling streams

Longings For God

English349
1
As pants the hart for cooling streams
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God, for Thee,
And Thy refreshing grace.
2
Why restless, why cast down, my soul?
Trust God, who will employ
His aid for thee, and change these sighs
To thankful hymns of joy.
3
For Thee, my God, the living God,
My thirsty soul doth pine;
Oh, when shall I behold Thy face,
Thou Majesty Divine?
4
God of my strength, how long shall I,
Like one forgotten, mourn,
Forlorn, forsaken, and exposed
To my oppressor’s scorn?
5
Why restless, why cast down, my soul?
Hope still, and thou shalt sing
The praise of Him who is thy God,
Thy health’s eternal spring.

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Un Hermano

Feb 18, 2026

Brother Lawrence has said that if our heart can in any measure come to know God, it can do so only through love. He also said that the pleasures of man’s heart are different from his sentiments. The proper outlet of sentiments is love, and the object of love is God. Therefore, we should sing,

What e’er thou lovest, man,
That too become thou must;
God, if thou lovest God,
Dust, if thou lovest dust.
Go out, God will come in;
Die thou and let Him live;
Be not and He will be;
Wait and He’ll all things give.
O, Cross of Christ, I take thee
Into this heart of mine,
That I to my own self may die
And rise to Thy life Divine.
To bring thee to thy God,
Love takes the shortest route;
The way which knowledge leads,
Is but a roundabout.
Drive out from thee the world,
And then thy heart shall be
Filled with the love of God,
And holy like as He.
(Hymns, #477)

Love is surely the most proper outlet of sentiments. Love is not reluctant. We love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). The more we love Him, the more we will draw close to Him. The more we draw close to Him, the more we will know Him. The more we know Him, the more we will love Him and long after Him.

The saints of old wrote in the Psalms, “As the hart pants / After the streams of water, / So my soul pants / For You, O God” (42:1). This is the longing of those who have tasted God. One of the Lord’s children has said that God gave us a heart that is so great that only He can fill it. We perhaps thought that our heart was small, but those who have tasted God will testify that the heart is so big that it cannot be filled by anything less than God Himself. Only God can fill our heart. Brothers and sisters, how much does your heart long after God?

The New Covenant
Chapter 2 The Characteristics
of the Content of the
New Covenant (LSM)

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Pwt

Burlington, MA, United States

Feb 8, 2026

PANTING FOR GOD

Psalm 42:1 As the hart pants / After the streams of water, / So my soul pants / For You, O God.

Psalm 42:2 My soul thirsts for God, / For the living God. / When will I come and appear / Before God?

“In this psalm the psalmist was panting and thirsting (v. 2) for God at a time when he and his people had been stripped and defeated by the neighboring nations and were in captivity .

Panting and thirsting for God are different from worshipping God in a formal, religious way.

God is our living water for us to drink (John 4:10, 14; 7:37-39a; 1 Cor. 12:13). We need to pant and thirst for Him and to drink Him. ”

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Grace Syh

Shreveport, LA, United States

May 29, 2025

Thank You, Lord, for the descriptions of my heart.
“As pants the hart for cooling streams
When heated in the chase,
So longs my soul, O God, for Thee,
And Thy refreshing grace. ”

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Sisteregina K

Hagerstown, MD, United States

Mar 9, 2023

says: Yea and all that will Godly in this world shall suffer persecution, plus; “Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. ”

Happily and humbly, I submit; in Jesus’s name, bc; i’m saved and sanctified the Bible way, he’s my elder brother and his Father is my Father ~sisteregina k

🌺:).

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Yuri

Feb 27, 2021

Hence, although Psalm 119 has much to say about the law, it does not speak about the law from the perspective of doctrine, but from the viewpoint of spiritual experience. This psalm was written by one who dealt with the law in the way of enjoyment. In this message and in the next, we shall look into Psalm 119 to consider how the Old Testament seekers of God enjoyed His law. Life study of Exodus Message 55.

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Ann Tannert

Tucson, Arizona, United States

May 15, 2020

I have just learned about downloading the accompaniment. How excellent!

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Ann Tannert

Tucson, Arizona, United States

May 13, 2020

I am interested in finding the full piano score for As Pants the Hart for Cooling Streams. The tune is attributed to Hugh Wilson, but I really like the version on hymnal.net.

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Mary Evelyn

Port Of Spain, Trinidad And Tobago

Jan 29, 2020

What a spring of HOPE!

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Billy Ousley

Los Angeles, CA, United States

Sep 1, 2016

Never ceases to give me chills.

Always a comfort.

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Naa Asheley

Accra, Gtreater Accra, Ghana

Sep 13, 2012

Wonderful piece. Soul-soothing. God bless the author.

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