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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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You have longed for sweet peace, and for faith to increase

Consecration All on the Altar

English448
1
You have longed for sweet peace, and for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot have rest, or be perfectly blest,
Until all on the altar is laid.
 
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart, does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest and have peace and sweet rest,
As you yield Him your body and soul.
2
Would you walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
And have peace and contentment alway;
You must do His sweet will to be free from all ill;
On the altar your all you must lay.
3
Oh, we never can know what the Lord will bestow
Of the blessings for which we have prayed,
Till our body and soul He doth fully control,
And our all on the altar is laid.
4
Who can tell all the love He will send from above!
Oh, how happy our heart will be made!
Oh, what fellowship sweet we shall share at His feet,
When our all on the altar is laid!

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Lucia Loftus

Urbana, IL, United States

Oct 22, 2023

I’ve had the experience lately of reserving my body for myself. My health or how I feel controls my giving myself to the Lord absolutely. These sentences stood out to me today as I sang this song. “Yield Him your body and soul” “Till our body and soul, He doth fully control” This is not the first time the Lord has asked for absolute surrender… I surely appreciate this song and the experience of our brother laying all on the alter and becoming happy in his heart. I pray I can experience this also.

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Ibrahim Jonathan

New Karu, Nasarawa, Nigeria

Oct 21, 2023

This hymn has blessed my spirit since I first heard it from my Father in the Lord till date

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Promise Uchenna Onyechere

Aba, Abia, Nigeria

Jul 23, 2023

Yielding all to the altar of sacrifice helps us to receive his fullness. Lord help me to yield my all to you in Jesus name Amen.

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Isabelle

Cincinnati, OH, United States

Feb 22, 2023

Your heart, does the Spirit control?

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Mariegel

Leduc, AB, Canada

Feb 24, 2022

Lord Jesus I must confess I cannot lay my all on the altar of sacrifice. I have only thr desire but too yield to you my all. But praise and thank You my Lord, You will do it for me. All I have to do is to remain, stay and abide in You. Praise You Lord, You are now living in me. You are now my life, the resurrection life that overcomes satan, death and Hades. No more struggling on my part but just to enjoy Your riches day by day.. I love You Lord Jesus.. 💖

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Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Feb 5, 2022

Elisha Albright Hoffman was born May 7, 1839 in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania. Elisha’s parents, Frances A. and Rebecca A. Hoffman. were both of German descent. His father worked as a minister in the Evangelical Association for over 60 years, which likely influenced Hoffman’s decision to enter the ministry. The son of an evangelical minister, Hoffman grew up singing sacred hymns both in church and in the home with his parents. After completing high school, Hoffman furthered his education at Union Seminary in the Berlin, Pennsylvania, and was subsequently ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1873.

Following his seminary education, Hoffman began work with the publishing branch of the Evangelical Association in Cleveland, Ohio. After serving in this position for 11 years, Hoffman held several pastoral positions in the Midwest. He pastored churches in both Cleveland and Grafton, Ohio in the 1880s; moved to Benton Harbor, Michigan and the First Presbyterian Church in the mid-1890s; and finished his ministry and Cabery Illinois from 1911-22.

Hoffman’s musical education was obtained from his parents. While possessing natural musical abilities, Hoffman never attended a school of music. Any musical instruction he received came from his experience at his father’s church or at home. In addition to singing at church, the Hoffman household had a daily family worship time, of which hymn singing was an important part. Elisha therefore, became very familiar with the musical and spiritual tradition of Evangelical hymnology at a very early age. It was during these times of family worship that Elisha developed a love for sacred music and a belief that song was “as natural as a function of the soul as breathing was a function of the body. ”

During the American Civil War, when Hoffman was 24, he enlisted as a Private in the Union Army on July 9, 1863. He served with Company A, 47th Infantry Regiment, Pennsylvania. He was discharged just over a month later on August 14, 1863.

In 1866 at 26, Hoffman married married Susan M. Orwig who was 22 at the time. Hoffman was ordained by the Presbyterian Church in 1873, at the age of 34. Two years later in 1876, his wife Susan died, leaving him a single parent of their three sons. In early 1879, at the age of 40, Elisha remarried to Emma, a woman who was 26 years old. The couple had a baby boy in December of that same year, adding to the family’s three other boys. At the time, they were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and had Hoffman’s sister-in-law living with them and working as a dress maker.

After leaving his position with the Evangelical Association, Hoffman began his pastoral ministry. From 1880 until his retirement in 1922, Hoffman pastored several churches in Cleveland and Grafton, Ohio; Benton Harbor, Michigan; and Cabery, Illinois. His longest post was held at the Benton Harbor Presbyterian Church in Michigan where he served for 33 years. It was during these years in ministry that Elisha composed the bulk of his hymns. There were over two thousand hymns composed by Hoffman in print. Among his most popular and widely recognized songs are: “ What a Wonderful Savior! ” “Enough for Me, ” “Are You Washed in the Blood? ,”

“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, ” “ No Other Friend Like Jesus, ” “I Must Tell Jesus, ” and “Is Your All on the Altar? ” Hoffman also assisted in the compilation and editing process of over 50 different song books.

In 1906, his daughter Florence married Barrat O’Hara who eventually served the state of Illinois as Lieutenant Governor (1913-17) and a Democratic US Congressman in (1949-1951 & 1953-1969). Hoffman died on November 5, 1929 in Chicago Illinois, and is buried there in Oak Woods Cemetery.

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Jane

Bedford, United Kingdom

Dec 13, 2021

This hymn in the Baptist hymnal, reminds us that there's no peace and blessings in this world outside of Jesus Christ the Prince of peace. This peace and sweet rest can only be attained as we we daily offer our bodies as living sacrifices and secondly lay every other pursuits in the altar of sacrifice. Jesus help me

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Merton

Jamaica

Apr 14, 2021

Jesus

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Bailey

Kingston, Jamaica

Mar 21, 2021

Nothing but the good old hymns.

Thank You Jesus.

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Omotayo

Kogi, Kabby, Nigeria

Jan 29, 2021

Very good

I love that

I prayed for you all in Jesus name he sent is blessing to all of us

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