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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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Lord, when the Father ne’er was known

Experience of Christ In the Spirit

English490
1
Lord, when the Father ne’er was known,
The Father came through Thee below,
That we who lived in ignorance
Might through Thyself the Father know.
2
But, Lord, when Thou wast here on earth,
How scarce were those Thyself who knew;
A veil there was ’twixt Thee and them;
They crowded ’round, but saw not through.
3
Now as the Spirit Thou hast come
E’en as the Father came in Thee;
As we through Thee the Father know,
Now through the Spirit we know Thee.
4
Not with the flesh Thou now art clothed—
Then must Thou walk with toil around;
But as the Spirit in our heart
Thou dost supply Thyself unbound.
5
Thou, Lord, the Father once wast called,
But now the Holy Spirit art;
The Spirit is Thine other form,
Thyself to dwell within our heart.
6
By knowing Thee as Spirit, Lord,
We realize Thy life’s outflow,
Thy glory and Thy character,
And all Thy being’s wonders know.
7
Praise to Thy Name now floods our heart;
There is no one as dear as Thee;
For since we know how real Thou art,
No other one could lovelier be.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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Maurice Ward

Irving, Texas, United States

May 25, 2026

Praise now fills our hearts for this wonderful person!

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Un Hermano

Dec 2, 2025

THE SON

God is mysterious. He is altogether a mystery. But this mystery has been revealed by God’s speaking. Without the divine speaking, God would remain forever unknowable. But our God no longer is mysterious. He is not a mystery, but a story. The story of God is absolutely a matter of speaking. God has a history, and His history is a speaking story. We can tell the story of God. The story of God is a matter of continual speaking; it is a speaking history.

Firstly, God spoke through some people who were chosen and moved by Him. He spoke in various ways through Adam, Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. After Abraham, God spoke through Moses and many other chosen ones—priests, kings, and prophets. Everyone who spoke for God, whether he was a king or a prophet, was motivated by God’s Spirit. Therefore, the history of God is a history of speaking.

After God spoke through so many different kinds of people, through high and low, educated and uneducated, kings and shepherds, His speaking was still insufficient. Regardless of how much these people were used to speak for God, their speaking was not adequate. God had to speak by Himself directly. So He came in the person of the Son. Hebrews 1:2 says that God has spoken to us in the Son. According to the Recovery Version of Hebrews, in 1:1 there is a definite article before the word prophets. However, in 1:2 the definite article before Son is in italics, indicating that this word is not in the Greek text, but that it is necessary for the sake of English idiom. In the English language it is difficult to say, “God spoke to us in Son. ” Some of the better versions say, “God has spoken to us in the person of the Son. ” Even the Amplified Version uses the phrase in the person of a Son. This means God Himself speaks in the person of the Son. Formerly He spoke through the prophets; now He speaks in the Son. We must see that the Son is different from all the prophets. All of the prophets were men used by God to speak for Him, but the Son is God Himself speaking. Verse 2 says that God has spoken to us in the Son, and verse 8 tells us that the Son is God. This indicates that God speaks in Himself. In verse 2 it seems that God and the Son are two, for it says that God spoke in the Son. But in verse 8 it is evident that the Son and God are one, for the Son is addressed, “O God. ” To say that God has spoken in the Son means that God speaks in Himself.

In the four gospels the Son came. He came to speak God, not only with clear words, but also with what He was and what He did. He is altogether the Word of God and the speaking of God. Sometimes He spoke with words and other times He spoke with actions. All that He was and all that He did spoke God. “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18).

The Son is the Word, the speaking, the expression, and the definition of God. When the Son speaks, His word is the Spirit (John 6:63). Eventually, to the churches, He is the speaking Spirit. At the beginning of each of the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 , the Son speaks, but at the end of each epistle, it is the Spirit speaking to the churches. God speaks in the Son, and when the Son speaks to the churches, He is the speaking Spirit. By His speaking the churches will become one with Him. At the end of Revelation the Spirit and the church speak as one (Rev. 22:17). God speaks in the Son, the Son becomes the speaking Spirit, and the speaking Spirit is one with the church speaking for God. This is the speaking history of our God, a history that is a speaking story.

This speaking story is recorded in the Bible. The entire Bible is a history of God. As we have seen, this history is a speaking story. When God created all things, He did so by speaking. When He contacted humanity in the Old Testament times, He did it by speaking in the prophets. When He came to mankind in the New Testament age, He spoke in the Son, in the Person of the Son as His Word. How does He come into the churches today? By speaking as the speaking Spirit. By speaking as the Spirit, He makes Himself one with the churches. Eventually, this speaking story not only consists of Himself, but also of all the churches. Meeting after meeting, the church life is a speaking story. We are a speaking people. By this speaking God is transfused into people. By this speaking so many human beings are being infused and saturated with the divine element. This is the church life. This is God speaking.

The book of Hebrews is a book of God’s speaking. The essence of the letter to the Hebrews is God speaking in the Son. God speaks in the Son, the Son speaks as the Spirit to the churches, and ultimately the Spirit speaks with the church. It is altogether by this speaking story that God is brought into man and man is brought into God. God and man, man and God, become one. This is the wonderful church life.

Life-study of Hebrews

Message 3 (LSM)

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Un Hermano

Dec 2, 2025

3. Declaring God

Another aspect of Christ’s work in His human living was to declare God. “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). In His human living Christ declared God. According to John 1:1-18 , Christ declared God by the Word (vv. 1 , 14), life (v. 4), light (vv. 4-5), grace (vv. 14 , 16 , 17), and reality (vv. 14 , 17). The Word is God expressed, life is God imparted, light is God shining, grace is God enjoyed, and reality is God realized. God is declared in the Son through these five things. Although no one has ever seen God, Christ in His human living has declared God in the way of being the Word, life, light, grace, and reality. The more we receive the Word, have the divine life, and let the light of life shine within us, and the more we enjoy God as grace and apprehend Him as reality, the more He is declared to us. In His human living Christ carried out the work of declaring God in this way. During the thirty years of His living and working as a carpenter, Christ declared God. While He was living to build up the fashion of a man, He declared God to His mother, brothers, and sisters. They must have realized that there was something excellent and extraordinary with Him, something higher than the expression only of humanity. What they saw in the human living of the Lord Jesus was the declaration of God in Him. His human living declared God.

The Conclusion of the New Testament:

God, Christ, and the Spirit,

Message 64 (LSM)

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Allen In Christ

TX, United States

Feb 13, 2019

Praise to Thy Name now floods our heart;
There is no one as dear as Thee;
For since we know how real Thou art,
No other one could lovelier be.

Read more
Susan Tansey

Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand

Apr 22, 2017

Enjoyed singing this hymn this morning. Thank You, Lord.

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Glenn

Fullerton, California, United States

Oct 13, 2012

This is one of our dear Bro. Nee's hymns to the Father and His sending His Son to the earth, but many didn't realize Who He truly was. Now that you, Father have infused us with Your Spirit in our spirit, You can mold us unto Your image from glory to glory, AMEN! Father thank You for the love You have for us.

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