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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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Love Divine, all love excelling

Longings For Christ

English358
1
Love Divine, all love excelling,
Joy of heav’n, to earth come down;
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, Thou art all compassion;
Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.
2
Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit
Into every troubled breast;
Let us all in Thee inherit,
Let us find the promised rest.
Take away the love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.
3
Come, Almighty, to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
May Thy presence e’er be with us,
Never more Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thou wouldst approve,
Pray, and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.
4
Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory
Till with Thee we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love and praise.

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Anna Beard

Port Aransas, TX, United States

Oct 21, 2026

This is the melody to "There's a Wideness in the Lord's Mercy" from the Hymnal 1982", Hymn 470. I just started playing hymns this year, I knew none of them because I am Mexican. This is incredibly joyous to experience!! Thank you for this website!! It has helped me a lot!

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Un Hermano

Feb 24, 2026

Christ’s Dwelling in Us
Being a Story of Love
-------------------

Ephesians 3:17 says, “That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love. ” Christ dwells in us; He dwells in our hearts, and this dwelling is a dwelling of love in us. This enables us to apprehend, to experience, and to taste the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ with all the saints (vv. 18-19). The meaning of knowledge-surpassing in Greek is “beyond intellectual capacity. ” This love is beyond man’s intellectual capacity. Our intellect cannot comprehend this love, but our emotion can touch this love. In other words, the Christ who indwells us is the very embodiment of love. His indwelling us is love; therefore, that Christ may make His home in your hearts equals that love may make His home in your hearts . Christ, who is love, not only dwells in us, but even more He dwells in our hearts and can touch our feelings.

Further Talks on the Knowledge of Life
Chapter 16 Living in the Law of the Spirit of Life
(LSM)

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Un Hermano

Feb 24, 2026

There are some exceedingly great promises in the Bible. John 15:4 says, “Abide in Me and I in you. ” Verse 23 of chapter 14 says, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him. ” Second Corinthians 12:9 says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. ” Philippians 4:6-7 says, “In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses every man’s understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. ” First Peter 5:7 says, “Casting all your anxiety on Him because it matters to Him concerning you. ” Colossians 1:11 says, “Being empowered with all power, according to the might of His glory, unto all endurance and long-suffering with joy. ” Philippians 4:13 says, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me. ” Ephesians 3:16-20 says, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are and to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ, that you may be filled unto all the fullness of God. But to Him who is able to do superabundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power which operates in us. ”

All these verses are exceedingly great promises that God has granted to us. All these great promises are not outward blessings but God Himself. Some small and ordinary blessings show God’s power, but the great promises cause man to receive the divine power, which is God Himself as power. Because they are God Himself, they are precious and exceedingly great.

The Living under God's Governmental Administration in His Salvation and the Provisions of the Divine Life

Chapter 13 The Calling of God’s Glory and Virtue, and the Precious and Exceedingly Great Promises (LSM)

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Adjei Nsiah

Accra, Ghana

Feb 14, 2026

Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory
Till with Thee we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love and praise

Read more
Fred B Northrup

Crescent City, CA, United States

Nov 29, 2025

Revelation 4:10 The twenty-four elders will fall before Him who sits upon the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever; and they will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

Recovery Version footnote 1: According to the preceding verses, this section of the holy Word implies that when the redeemed saints - represented by the man among the four living creatures, who are redeemed-have been perfected and glorified to be the proper priests and kings (20:6), the temporary priests and kings, the twenty-four angelic elders, will resign from their offices. This is implied by the fact that they will cast their crowns before the throne.

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Adjei

Accra, Ghana

Nov 23, 2025

Love Divine, all love excelling,
Joy of heav’n, to earth come down;
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown.
Jesus, Thou art all compassion;
Pure, unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart

Read more
Nsiah Adjei

Accra, Ghana

Nov 22, 2025

A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community asking for the Lord to be with us/them throughtout the journey.

And to finish the task.

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Sue

Greater Manchester, United Kingdom

Aug 30, 2025

How I love this hymn. It says so much about the Father heart of God. How compassionate He is and how divine His love for us.

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Laurence C

Cheshire, United Kingdom

Jun 22, 2025

My favourite hymn so far

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Kim Rasmussen

Harwood Heights, IL, United States

Jun 13, 2025

Wonderful hymn. Let us be enraptured with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!

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