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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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No mortal tongue can e’er describe

Consecration Possessing All in the Lord

English473
1
No mortal tongue can e’er describe
The freedom of the soul,
When passed beyond all earthly bribe
To God’s complete control.
All things are his, yes, life, and death,
Things present or to come;
In Christ he draws in peace each breath,
In Christ he finds his home.
2
When such as we the King can choose,
To share with Him His throne,
’Tis passing strange that we refuse
To be our Lord’s alone.
O never speak of sacrifice!
A privilege untold
Is to be His at any price,
In Calv’ry’s hosts enrolled.
3
Arise! the holy bargain strike—
The fragment for the whole—
All men and all events alike
Must serve the ransomed soul.
All things are yours when you are His,
And He and you are one;
A boundless life in Him there is,
Whence doubt and fear are gone.

Alternate last line of the last stanza: And kingdom yet to come.

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Christopher Guillermo

Kyle, TX, United States

Jun 19, 2021

ALL things are His!

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CE

Austin, TX, United States

Feb 24, 2021

Brother EC, from Los Angeles, you are exactly right!

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EC

Los Angeles, CA, United States

Feb 19, 2021

When thinking of the saints who lost power, water and have been suffering from the being stranded in home in severe frigid cold caused but the recent winter storm, the first stanza came. "All things are his, yes, life and death; things present or to come." As we continue to pray for the saints to be delivered from such outward hardships, may the saints experience Christ as his breath and home.

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Angelica De La Fuente

Tuguegrao City, Cagayan Valley, Philippines

Feb 13, 2021

"All things are yours when you are His,
And He and you are one;
A boundless life in Him there is,
And kingdom yet to come." 💖

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A Sister In Christ

Jan 27, 2021

Considering comment by Tom:

No mortal tongue can e’er describe
The freedom of the soul,
When passed beyond all earthly bribe
With God, to reach His goal.

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MB

Philippines

Jan 2, 2021

"O never speak of sacrifice! A privilege untold!"

He is the King of kings and the Lord of Lords. To serve Him is really not a sacrifice, but a privilege for us. Brother Nee once said, "We should gladly give ourselves to His service even if it means crawling to His feet to beg for service." May we also have such an attitude that we would even crawl to the Lord's feet just to beg Him to allow us to serve Him. May we give ourselves to serve the Lord while we still have the opportunity.

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Tom

Milwaukee, United States

Nov 12, 2020

What a beautiful hymn. There is indeed complete freedom of the soul when found in its original home of Christ, who restores all things. There must be a better word than the word "control" in the first stanza, but I can't find a good one that rhymes. God is after something deeper than simply his controlling us, something along the lines of his will and our will aligned as one out of the love he pours into our lives. Yes, ultimately he is in control, but it seems like a word that reflects perfect harmony would fit his design better, of providing us with a free will that we use freely to do his will. Anyone have any thoughts here?

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Steve Miller

Detroit, Michigan, United States

Aug 23, 2020

We sang this song today in church to go along with the message on Philippians 1:20-30 on "How to Live and How to Die".

Phil 1:20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope
that in nothing I will be put to shame,
but with all boldness,
as always, even now,
Christ shall be magnified in my body,
whether through life or through death
21 for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.

This is expressed in the song by "All things are his, yes, life and death."

Also "A boundless life in Him there is" when we are free from the fear of death as Paul says in:

Phil 1:28 In nothing being frightened by the opposers,
which is to them a proof of their destruction,
but of your salvation, and that from God.
----------

I prefer the original last line of the song, as that is what enables the boundless life.

Also, the original stanza 1, last line, says "In Christ he reaches home." I prefer that original also because it soberly refers to the death spoken of 3 lines before.

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Cody Enderli

San Marcos, TX, United States

Oct 25, 2019

All things are His, both life and death!

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Andrea

Tacoma, WA, United States

May 27, 2019

Striking the holy bargain! So many voices reaching the heavens, Memorial Day 2019

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