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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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It is God’s intent and pleasure

Experience of Christ As the Indwelling One

English538
1
It is God’s intent and pleasure
To have Christ revealed in me,
Nothing outward as religion,
But His Christ within to be.
 
It is God’s intent and pleasure
That His Christ be wrought in me;
Nothing outwardly performing,
But His Christ my all to be.
2
It is God’s intent and pleasure
That His Christ may live in me;
Nothing as an outward practice,
But Christ working inwardly.
3
It is God’s intent and pleasure
That His Christ be formed in me;
Not the outward forms to follow,
But Christ growing inwardly.
4
It is God’s intent and pleasure
That His Christ make home in me;
Not just outwardly to serve Him,
But Christ dwelling inwardly.
5
It is God’s intent and pleasure
That His Christ my hope may be;
It is not objective glory,
But ’tis Christ subjectively.
6
It is God’s intent and pleasure
That His Christ be all in me;
Nothing outwardly possessing,
But His Christ eternally.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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Un Hermano

Jan 9, 2026

b. It Pleasing God to Reveal Him,
he Son of God, in the Apostle
-------------------------

In Galatians 1:15 and 16a Paul says, “It pleased God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me. ” The Son of God, as the embodiment and expression of God the Father (John 1:18 ; 14:9-11 ; Heb. 1:3), is life to us (John 10:10 ; 1 John 5:12 ; Col. 3:4). God’s heart’s desire is to reveal His Son in us that we may know Him, receive Him as our life (John 17:3 ; 3:16), and become the sons of God (1:12 ; Gal. 4:5-6). As the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16), He is far superior to Judaism and its traditions (Gal. 1:13-14). The Judaizers had bewitched the Galatians into considering that the ordinances of the law were above the Son of the living God. Hence, in the opening of this Epistle the apostle testified that he had been deeply involved and had become far advanced in the realm of Judaism, but that God had rescued him out of that course of the world, which was evil in God’s eyes, by revealing His Son in him. In his experience he realized that there was no comparison between the Son of the living God and Judaism with its dead traditions handed down from his forefathers.

1) God’s Pleasure to

Reveal His Son in Us

In 1:16 Paul emphasizes the fact that the Son of God was revealed in him. This indicates that God’s revealing of His Son to us is in us; it is not outward but inward, not by an outward vision but by an inward seeing. It is not an objective revelation but a subjective one.

Moreover, Paul says that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him. This indicates that to reveal the Son of God brings pleasure to God. Nothing is more pleasing to God than the unveiling, the revelation, of the living person of the Son of God.

The Conclusion of the New Testament:

Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ,

Message 324 (LSM)

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Maria L

Fremont, California, United States

Jun 18, 2025

Praise the Lord! The more Christ is revealed in us, living in us, and being formed in us, the more we become a new creation in resurrection! Hallelujah! 😀

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Catherine C

London, United Kingdom

May 12, 2025

Dwell in me inwardly Amen
Christ all in me
It is God’s intent and pleasure
That His Christ make home in me;
Not just outwardly to serve Him,
But Christ dwelling inwardly.

Read more
Jim Smith

Mansfield, Ohio, United States

Feb 26, 2025

When I came to this hymn I was brought to tears. Why I am I always looking for what I want to see and what is pleasant or pleasurable for me. A true worshiper should be looking for what God intends to do and what pleases Him. God’s pleasure is that Christ would be everything to me. This is not performing outward things, but letting Him work inwardly. I don’t want to be like many that seek their own things. This can happen even in the church. I realize that for me to be one with this Christ and take Him as my all, I must die to self and be willing to partake of His sufferings. The Lord suffered not only for the gospel but also for the perfecting of His humanity.

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Maria Levi

Los Angeles, CA, United States

Jan 14, 2025

I praise & thank You O God & Father! Your intent and pleasure, is to have Christ Your very Son: be revealed in me as the Spirit within; be wrought in me to be my all; may live in me to work inwardly; be formed in me to grow inwardly; make home in me to dwell inwardly; be my hope of glory subjectively; and be all in me eternally! Oh what a Christ I have inside of me! I love You, dear Lord!

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Mg Ramos

Batangas, Philippines

Feb 1, 2024

It is God’s intent and pleasure
To have Christ revealed in me,
Nothing outward as religion,
But His Christ within to be.

God's revealing of His Son to us is in us; it is not outward but inward, not by an outward vision but by an inward seeing. It is not an objective revelation but a subjective one. - Gal 1:16, fn. 3, "in"

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Sanjay Massey

Delhi, India

Dec 10, 2023

It is God’s intent and pleasure
That His Christ be all in me;
Nothing outwardly possessing,
But His Christ eternally.
Amen Lord. Hallelujah

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C. Taylor

Forth Worth, Texas, United States

May 23, 2022

It is God's intent and pleasure
That His Christ be formed in me;
Not the outward forms to follow,
But Christ growing inwardly!

1 John 4:13 In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us,

that He has given to us of His Spirit.

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Helen

Bislig, Surigao Del Sur, Philippines

Mar 31, 2021

Thank the LORD, HE shows us HIS INTENT and PLEASURE...

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Lizandro Torres Sotomayor

San Martin De Porres, Lima, Peru

Mar 6, 2021

It's wonderful hymn, I love it!

I remember my first years of the church's life in Lima- Peru since 1981.. oh Lord Jesus!!

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