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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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What a Friend we have in Jesus

Prayer Telling the Lord

English789
1
What a Friend we have in Jesus,
All our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer!
2
Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
3
Are we weak and heavy-laden,
Cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge—
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
Thou wilt find a solace there.

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Valerie Servance

Manning, SC, United States

Nov 2, 2024

This Words of This Song Becomes So Clear and Meaningful Through the Storms of Life and As A Relationship Becomes Stronger in the Lord ….. Thank You Lord For Being With Me Through Everything Especially Through the Heartbreak of Divorce after 15 Years and Loved Ones Death…. I’m Taking Everything to You Lord Because Only You Can Provide the Strength and Comfort I Need. Amen , Amen and Amen.

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Oritsemisan

Nov 2, 2024

A lovely hymn

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Justine Patricia

Kampala, Wakiso, Uganda

Oct 26, 2024

I thank God for this hymn that always reminds us that our God is all knowing and is always waiting for us to talk to him about our ups and downs.. We are also reminded not to suffer with the loads there world burdens us with but just make it known to the Lord and he will take of everything 🙂

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Pastor Nti Simon

Owerri, Imo, Nigeria

Oct 21, 2024

This song is so refreshing and challenging too. What needless pains we bear, all because we don't carry everything to God in prayer. I pray that God will help me to take this challenge seriously so that those needless pains will be no more

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Daniel Agoh

Owerri, Imo, Nigeria

Oct 20, 2024

Hallelujah, praise be to God Almighty. I can’t describe how my life has been these past few months, starting from when my phone got stolen in April, to when I gambled with my semester tuition and lost it all in May because of poverty and online pressure, to when I gathered up some more money and lost it again to forex trading in August, my life has been in shambles and my heart broken to pieces, with my broken spirit and downtrodden life masturbation became the only ‘thing that worked’ for me and I fell deeper and deeper each day, even masturbating as recently as yesterday. But I woke up this morning and I don’t know I felt something that made me want to really pray, I had given up on prayer nd God many times in the past saying that ‘God failed me’ and ‘cannot even help me even though he sees all, can’t he see the situation I’m in? ’’ so I dumped God, but today praise to him I really wanted to pray and I remember how my father taught me how to, so I started with worship songs and somehow I started singing this one, I looked up the lyrics and this was the first website that popped up. Thank you Jesus for I know what I must do and I will come back to this comment very soon with all debts taken care of and my life restored and even moved to greater heights, amen. Thank you all for your comments they reassured and encouraged me and even made me cry for the first time in forever. Thank you and God Bless you

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Iheanacho Levi

Lagos, Western Nigeria, Nigeria

Oct 14, 2024

What a privilege for me undeserving to take my burden to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm grateful.

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Justina Thikan

Abuja, Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria

Oct 14, 2024

It feels so good and reassuring that I can reach out to the Lord again and again and at all times with my worries and cares. I don't have to bottle them! I do not have to be encumbered by worries; I should take them all to the burden bearer - 1 Peter 5:7. Today, Lord I am reaching out to you with all my problems, take them over, and give me peace.

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Joey Passaro

New Windsor, NY, United States

Oct 13, 2024

This hymn is such a great reminder. I can cast my cares upon the Lord because He cares for me (1 Peter 5:7). I recently turned 21 years old and I hope to prioritize my friendship with Jesus for the rest of my life.

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Pastor Joyce

St Ives, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom

Oct 6, 2024

I woke up this dawn singing this song over and over, and I see that it is embedded in my preaching this morning from 1 Peter 1, especially in our memory verse 3, which says “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ”

I thank God for our predecessors who wrote this hymn and many more through Holy Ghost inspiration.

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Prabah

Harare, Zimbabwe

Oct 1, 2024

Wow. I woke up seeking to hear God. And I was being taught on what praying without ceasing means and does. Then this song came to mind. I had to look for the lyrics again. As I did, I came across the lyricists biography and I am learning the poem originally was called Pray without ceasing!

I marvel at how God through the years and using different vessels (the lyricists, the friend, the composers etc) has continued to work this song to bring it to light, to life and to perfection.

Hallelujah!

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