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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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Nearer, my God, to Thee

Experience of God Fellowship with Him

English614
1
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee;
E’en though it be a cross
That raiseth me,
Still all my song shall be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.
2
Though, like a wanderer,
The sun gone down,
Darkness comes over me,
My rest a stone;
Yet in my dreams I’d be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.
3
There let me see the sight,
An open heaven;
All that Thou sendest me,
In mercy given;
Angels to beckon me
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.
4
Then, with my waking thoughts
Bright with Thy praise,
Out of my stony griefs
Bethel I’ll raise,
So by my woes to be
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee,
Nearer to Thee.

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Conner

Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Oct 28, 2020

Sad but beautiful hymn to have been the last heard by over 1500 people the night RMS Titanic sank in the north Atlantic

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Yeah

Lagos, Nigeria

Aug 15, 2020

this is an amazing hymn 😍😍

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Anonymous

Jun 1, 2020

This is amazing bye

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Deborah Burns

Ladson, SC, United States

May 18, 2020

Thank you Karen Bryant of Decatur Georgia yes it is comforting to me also. I'm playing it tonight as I've had a wonderful day but still an un rest and stress from not knowing how this whole pandemic will end. I miss church and the fellowship thereof. Also, my parents who are two states away have been cooped up for so long. I can't travel to see them due to Crossing state lines being a risk. Pray for this to end well and for encouragement to come to the body of Christ especially because we are the salt of the earth and if we lose our flavor, well , let's just don't lose our flavor! In Jesus name amen.

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Karen Bryant Shipp

Decatur, Georgia, United States

Apr 27, 2020

Thank you, Ana Lara, for sharing with us the history of this text. I have loved this hymn for most of my life, and there is something about the singing of it that brings me a great amount of comfort. It came to me this morning, as we are all sheltering in place in the middle of this pandemic. I am praying for everyone who is suffering at this time. May the peace of God that passes all understanding strengthen and uplift all our hearts.

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Deborah Orvin

Ladson, SC, United States

Apr 25, 2020

I've always loved the tune of this song and the words are truer than true. I remember it in the movie Titanic as those poor souls were preparing to die the band played Nearer My God to Thee

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Joel

Davao City, Davao Del Sur, Philippines

Apr 14, 2020

Wow I like that song.. thank you

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Steven Todd

Marble Falls, TX, United States

Apr 8, 2020

Lord, I’ll NEVER forget the sweet serenade in Jackson square you gave me...

Truly the nearness of God is my good....

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Sophia Abel

Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Mar 29, 2020

While in this season of a ravaging pandemic all we can do as we stay indoors is to be Nearer to God, seeking His face. I pray we all survive. Amen

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Ana Lara

United States

Mar 21, 2020

“Nearer My God to Thee” is generally thought by hymnodists to be the finest hymn ever written by a woman. Sarah Flower Adams was born in Harlow, England, on February 22, 1805. She died at the early age of forty-three. In her brief lifetime however, Sarah lived a full and productive life. She was an actress in the London stage and was known for her literary accomplishments though her health, being on the decline, was an impediment for her future goals. In 1834 she married a renowned inventor and civil engineer, John Brydges Adams. Thy were married for fourteen years and lived in London until Sarah’s death.

Sarah’s sister, Eliza, was also a talented lady being an accomplished musician, wrote the music for Sarah’s hymn texts. One day their pastor, Reverend William Johnson Fox, asked the two sisters if they would help him in the preparation of a new hymnal he was compiling for the congregation. The two sisters soon contributed thirteen texts and sixty-two new tunes.

The text for this hymn is based on the dream that Jacob had in the desert when he was running away from home after Essau, his brother, had threatened to kill him. Using a rock for a pillow he laid down in the wilderness and dreamt angels ascending and descending on a heavenly ladder. He called the place “Bethel” meaning the House of God.

One day the two sisters were helping their pastor finish the final details for their soon-to-be published hymnal. The pastor told them how he would like them to find a hymn to conclude a sermon he was preparing about Jacob and Essau recorded in Genesis. Eliza responded with enthusiasm, “Sarah, now there’s an excellent idea for a new hymn in our hymnal. Why don’t you write your own hymn about Jacob’s dream? ”

“Splendid! ” Replied the pastor. Later that day after having studied the Genesis account, Sarah began to write. Soon she had put into verse the entire biblical account in these five stanzas still in use today.

It has been said of this hymn that it does not contain anything on the person and work of Christ. Sarah attended the Unitarian Church most of her life which explains why it may not contain evangelical fervor. This hymn however, is found in nearly every published hymnal and has been translated into many languages. At the end of her life, there is evidence Sarah had a conversion experience and began to attend a Baptist congregation in London.

In 1841 the hymnal “Hymns and Anthems” was published for Fox’s Unitarian Congregation in London. “Nearer My God to Thee” was one of the hymns included in the hymnal. Three years later, in 1844, the hymn was introduced in America but did not gain popularity for twelve years until the present tune was written for it

“Bethany” composed especially for the text by Lowell Mason.

Many interesting incidents have been associated with the use of this hymn. In 1871 three prominent theologians, Professors Hitchcock, Smith and Park, were traveling in Palestine when they heard this hymn being sung from a distance. Drawing near, they saw, much to their surprise, fifty Syrian students standing under a tree in a circle, singing in Arabic language “Nearer My God to Thee. ” Professor Hitchcock remarked later that these students‘ singing that hymn had affected him more than any other singing he had ever heard before.

During the Johnson City Flood of May, 21 1889, a railroad train went into the swirling waters. One car was turned on end and in it was a woman trapped beyond hope of rescue. She had been on her way to the Far East as a missionary. The young lady spoke in a calm voice to the awe-stricken crowd looking on helplessly. Then she prayed and sang “Nearer My God to Thee, ” at which time she was joined by the sorrowful sympathizers. As she sang, she was ushered into the presence of the God of whom she sang.

This was President William McKinley’s favorite hymn, and he was heard to have whispered it as he was dying. The hymn was used in his funeral and throughout the country in 1901. In 1912, the music band of the Titanic played it as 1, 500 people sank in the Atlantic’s icy waters.

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