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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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O Love, that wilt not let me go

Consecration Constrained by the Lord’s Love

English432
1
O Love, that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in Thee;
I give Thee back the life I owe,
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
2
O Light, that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to Thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in Thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.
3
O Joy, that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall tearless be.
4
O Cross, that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from Thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

The author was inspired to write this hymn in 5 minutes during a time of distress.

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Tim Ou

Austin, Texas, United States

Mar 2, 2018

O Cross, that lifts up my head.

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Oliver McRae

Lubbock, Texas, United States

Dec 26, 2017

Brothers and Sisters,
Do not doubt that this song will be in eternity;
Sung as we go about the tasks Our KING has for us,
Shared in leisure amongst HIS Children,

Taught to whatever new live will spring forth - of a season long ago when darkness was given reign, and there was pain and suffering.

The chorus of the Forever Family.

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Joanna Smathers

Baton Rouge, United States

Nov 23, 2017

Psalm 7:5?... and lay my glory in the dust.

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Cj

Uvita De Osa, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Jul 29, 2017

Karen Hymnlover asked what "from the ground there blossoms red" means. When blood begins to pool on the ground, it looks like blossoms out like the opening of a flower. So from under the cross, as the blood of Christ blossomed in the dirt, His blood brought "life that shall endless be".

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Anthony Ohre

Port Harcourt, Delta State, Nigeria

Jul 23, 2017

A spiritual song that sees me through pain. It boost my spirit whenever I sing it. God bless the composer.

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Karen Hymnlover

Aiken, SC, United States

Jun 15, 2017

What does "And from the ground there blossoms red life" mean? Is it figuratively referring to Christ's life blood in us? The previous line is about being " in dust life’s glory dead", and before that, "O Cross, that liftest up my head". So, "red life" means alive in Christ versus dead in sin?

Love the info about "climbing" and "tracing" the rainbow. I like the idea of the victory in climbing, but I also like the idea of steadfastly tracing that often hard to see rainbow while in the midst of a storm. In others words, holding on to God's character and promises in spite of horizontal, temporal circumstances.

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Ryan Danek

Bellevue, Washington, United States

Sep 9, 2016

Thank You Lord for not letting me go.

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Steve Miller

Detroit, MI, United States

Feb 20, 2016

The original 3rd line of the 3rd stanza said "I climb the rainbow through the rain". It was a prosy hymnal committee of the Church of Scotland that insisted it be changed to "I trace the rainbow through the rain." The members of the committee could not imagine anything so fanciful and farcical as climbing a rainbow! ... Finally, Matheson consented to the change with regret, permitting a line he would never have written.

How sad! A close friend of Matheson, J. Morrison of Colinton, Scotland, expressed in an article for "The Scotsman" years later: "When "climb" was altered to "trace", the figure of a victorious ascent of the spirit toward its divine source (a purely inner experience) was changed to passive contemplation of an external phenomenon mentally envisaged - pious and beautiful in its way, but quite different from what was originally implied." ...

For Matheson, the rainbow was like Jacob's ladder let down from heaven for the poet's ascent into the glory of God.

James Black, in a book published 54 years after Matheson's death, wrote: "It is merely silly to think of Matheson 'tracing' that rainbow through the rain; his eyes were shut forever! But in his own fine imagination, he could picture himself stumbling forward blindly till he actually touched the rainbow with his groping fingers! And when he touched it, he could grasp it and climb it." - Climbing the Rainbow by Loyd J. Ogilvie

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Joanna Smathers

Baton Rouge, LA, United States

Feb 24, 2015

We enjoyed Christ in this song and the history of it and the writer this morning at Sisters' prayer. Seems to me this is the history of shepherds. Exodus 3:1 Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.

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Steve Miller

Detroit, MI, United States

Dec 5, 2014

George Matheson was born in Glasgow, Scotland. By the time he was 18 years of age he was totally blind; still he achieved high honors in university. He became one of Scotland's outstanding preachers and pastors. Although he never married, he had a devoted sister who studied Greek, Latin, and Hebrew in order to aid him in his studies. Due to his great ability to memorize sermons and large portions of Scripture, many people did not know he was blind. One Sunday as he was preaching his mind went blank. He read out a Psalm from memory and then sat down. After a song was sung he again stood up, told the audience what had happened, and then, although blind, spoke another portion of Scripture and gave a powerful message on that portion. From that time he no longer wrote out sermons but spoke from a prepared outline.

There is much speculation concerning the background of the writing of this hymn. It is best to take Matheson's own account:

"My hymn was composed on the evening of the 6th of June, 1882. I was at that time alone. It was the day of my sister's marriage, and the rest of the family were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression rather of having it dictated to me by some inward voice than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in 5 minutes, and equally sure it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this came like a dayspring from on high. I have never been able to gain once more the same fervor in verse." - Songs of the Spirit by Martin

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Matheson's poem was published in a Christian magazine in 1883, and in 1884 it was considered for inclusion in "The Scottish Hymnal". The musical editor of that work, Albert L. Peace, couldn't find a suitable tune in the poem's unique meter, so he wrote a new one. Like the poet, the composer worked quickly, saying, "The ink of the first note was hardly dry when I had finished the tune." Written in a few moments, this enduring song celebrates a love that lasts forever. - Be Still My Soul: The Inspiring Stories Behind 175 of the Most-loved Hymns by Petersen

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