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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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Not now, but in the coming years

Comfort in Trials By Trusting the Lord

English715
1
Not now, but in the coming years,
It may be when with Christ we stand,
We’ll read the meaning of our tears,
And there, sometime, we’ll understand.
 
Then trust in God through all thy days;
Fear not, for He doth hold thy hand;
Though dark thy way, still sing and praise,
Sometime, sometime, we’ll understand.
2
We’ll catch the broken thread again,
And finish what we here began;
God will the mysteries explain,
And then, ah, then, we’ll understand.
3
We’ll know why clouds instead of sun
Were over many a cherished plan;
Why song has ceased when scarce begun;
’Tis then, sometime, we’ll understand.
4
Why what we long for most of all,
Eludes so oft our eager hand;
Why hopes are crushed and castles fall,
Till then, sometime, we’ll understand.
5
God knows the way, He holds the key,
He guides us with unerring hand;
Sometime with tearless eyes we’ll see;
Yes, then, ’tis then, we’ll understand.

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Frank Scavo

Irvine, CA, United States

Jan 7, 2025

I recently did some research, for my poetry blog, on the author of this hymn, Maxwell Cornelius. Born in 1842 and raised on a Pennsylvania farm, he faced trials as throughout his life. He and his wife lost their second child, a daughter, as an infant. Then Cornelius had an accident, which resulted in his leg being amputated. Putting an end to his work as a brick mason, he went to college and became a minister, leading churches in Pennsylvania, California, and Washington, DC. His wife, Mary, died in 1892 at 43 years of age, and according to her obituary she had been “an invalid for 20 years. ” Cornelius himself preached her funeral sermon, at the end of which he quoted the words of this hymn. Cornelius himself died the next year from pneumonia, at age 50 or 51.

To me, this is the sort of hymn an older believer writes, looking back on the twists and turns of his or her life, wondering why? As hinted in the third verse, Cornelius may have been thinking, why did God allow me to lose a leg? Why did He take our second child, her song ended before it was scarcely begun? Why did my wife have to be so sick for so long, dying so young, and leaving our two remaining daughters at just 23 and nine years of age? Why were there so many clouds over our cherished plans?

But he had such faith in God. He knew that today we can only know dimly. But one day we will know fully, just as the Lord knows us today. And then we will see with tearless eyes, for God shall wipe away every tear.

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Jamon E. Liburd

College Park, MD, United States

Jan 22, 2024

I love the lyrics and melody of this song. Having recently lost my mom, in November 2022, I attended a funeral on January 19, 2024, and the lyrics and melody have been a source of strength and encouragement as we do not understand and "see through a glass dimly", but I am grateful for the encouragement and the fact that sometime, I'll understand.

In Loving and Bright Memory of my Mother, Helen Rosetta Stanley-Liburd

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Lydia Padilla

Rizal, Philippines

Aug 1, 2023

When I was in my primary grades I usually hear my cousin who was in despair at that time, singing this song. The melody and lyrics had stuck into my mind until I grew up. I acknowledge that there are situations where we might not comprehend the reasons behind certain events or hardships. However, this song reassures me that in due course, everything will become clear, and understand God’s greater plan. In the most challenging moments of our life, we are not alone, and God’s presence is with us. Let us continue to seek Him and grow in our faith so we will gain insight for life’s uncertainties and find peace in His plan for our lives.

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Carole McCabe

Lyndhurst, Hampshire, United Kingdom

Jun 12, 2021

Many years ago my darling parents loved the words of this beautiful hymn. When my Mother and only brother died, my Father would often recite these words of comfort.

Now that life is hard, and lonely, and filled with grief, I now too recite these words to myself often. I had forgotten one of the verses and therefore find myself here at hymnal.net.

I have just read here the compact biography of Maxwell N. Cornelius. I believe the Holy Spirit-the Spirit of Love, helped this dear gentleman to pen these words of succour for those who grieve. How Wonderful is our Lord.

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Glenda Palmer

Sebring, Florida, United States

Apr 29, 2021

This was one of my Mom's favorite songs. She's been gone 15 years now.....

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Anonymous

Apr 10, 2019

This is the tune I was searching for, thanks very much. Good comforting words

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Jessica Pretorius

Cape Town, Western Cape, Africa

Sep 3, 2017

What beautiful words. Thank you my friend for sending it to me if only we can take heed and understand before it is too late the hymn actually tells us something.

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Steve Miller

Detroit, MI, United States

Jun 30, 2014

"sometime" throughout the song should be "some time". The meaning is different.

-----------------

Mr. Cornelius was brought up on a farm in my own coun­ty in Penn­syl­van­ia. He left farm­ing when he came of age, and learned the trade of a brick-ma­son. Lat­er he be­came a con­tract­or in Pitts­burg. In erect­ing a house in that ci­ty his leg was brok­en. The phy­si­cians de­cid­ed that it would have to be am­pu­tat­ed…He stood the op­er­a­tion well and came out safe­ly, but was maimed for life. He now de­cid­ed to go to col­lege and get an ed­u­ca­tion. Af­ter pass­ing through col­lege with hon­or he con­clud­ed to be­come a min­is­ter of the gos­pel. His first charge was at Al­too­na, Penn­syl­van­ia, but on ac­count of his wife’s health he soon re­moved to Cal­i­for­nia, lo­cat­ing at Pa­sa­de­na, where he built the larg­est Pres­by­ter­i­an church in that place.

Ma­ny who had sub­scribed to help to pay for the building failed in bu­si­ness, and he was left to meet the ob­li­ga­tions as best he could. But in a few years he had the church cleared from all debt. Short­ly af­ter­ward his wife died. He preached the fun­er­al ser­mon him­self. At the con­clu­sion he quot­ed the words of this hymn, which he had com­posed short­ly before. Both the words of the hymn and the ser­mon were print­ed in a West­ern news­pa­per, where Ma­jor Whit­tle found them. Im­pressed by their beau­ty, he cut them out and car­ried them in his Bi­ble for three months be­fore he wrote the chor­us…Soon af­ter he hand­ed the words to his friend, James Mc­Gran­a­han, who com­posed the tune to which the hymn is now sung. - Sankey's Story of the Gospel Hymns

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Steve Miller

Detroit, MI, United States

Jun 30, 2014

stanza 1, line 2 originally says:
It may be in the better land
------------

chorus, 1st line originally says "the days" instead of "thy days"

------------

stanza 2 line 3 originally says:
Heav'n will the mysteries explain,
----

stanza 3, last line, originally says "'Tis there" instead of "'Tis then".

------------

stanza 5, last line originally says: "Yes, there, up there, we'll understand."

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Hazeym

Scotland, United Kingdom

Feb 15, 2013

A dear friend sent a link to this lovely hymn the day after my Dad died.

The words and music are comforting and remind me always that God will never let us down . Jesus knew what it was to feel sadness, loneliness and despair, face pain and rejection and knowing that, we can come to Him, knowing He will understand exactly how we feel. Thank you.

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