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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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Mark A. Hedtke

Ormond Beach, FL, United States

Nov 20, 2023

This was my father's favorite song ! My father, Arnold E. Hedtke, a good father, a good husband, a good man, a good example. I know he is home with Our Father, thank you Lord!

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Winifred

Sparta, NJ, United States

Nov 20, 2023

As very young children my sister and I so often heard our Mother singing this hymn that, although we are in our nineties, it still reminds us of His love and the fact that God is only a prayer away! When we go to Him in prayer, He gives us the blessed assurance that he hears every one of our prayers

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Memaw/mamabear

Hagers Town, MD, United States

Nov 14, 2023

brother Smith ~ you will do well to ask God who giveth to all liberally and up braideth not, per our beloved brother James

IMHE to be sure, ’tis no miss step or mis take, nor is your post; for which am so soo glad Jesus’still saying: “… the hour cometh an now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God a spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. ”-saintJohn 4. 23-4 . Why there are false prophets many an false worshippers, besides; let us be reminded the 10virgins parable-all virgins were saved! 5 with oil in their proverbial lamps trimmed gained entrance into the marriage supper of the Lamb right—we’re in the dressing room, so to speak right!

Y2K3 Rise Up! O men of God, Pray song loomed large ly now jus this morn hereon th Eastern seaboard th impressive/urgent matter of prayer emphasizes clean hands an pure hearts, harmless and blameless, perfect an entire wanting nothing sons and daughters of God Yah, in this ecumenicalism age; he is specific therein our beloved brother Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian saints, chapter 6, verses 14-7 an remember how that the Thessaloniansaints were mandated to pray without ceasing— now is for those who strive to enter in the strait gate Yah, the narrow way; for Babylon is fallen! is fallen! HALLELUJAH TO JESUS!!!

Humbly, I submit ~sisteregina k

P. S. Ooh sing HALLELUJAH God has made it to me too (⚜️Let us not consider ourselves finished soldiers ~ for we are ever fight ing :).

pls I hope to day has been a blessing for body an your one and only, never-dying soul, brother btw, are you sanctified yet?

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Jim Smith

Mansfield, Oh, United States

Nov 11, 2023

I tripped over this hymn this morning. I have been a faithful Christian for nearly my whole life. Why now has the Lord been impressing me so much about this matter of prayer?

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Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Oct 27, 2023

Joseph Scriven endured tragedy upon tragedy in his troubled life. Just as he was about to be married, his fiancée in Ireland fell from her horse while crossing a bridge, and drowned in a lake on the day before the wedding was planned nearly 200 years ago. Scriven, while waiting on the other side of the bridge, watched the tragedy unfold. In his utter grief, the young man decided to quit Dublin and leave for Canada, packed his bags, and left his mother behind. Following a time of pastoring and teaching, he threw himself into obscured charity work… chopping firewood for widows, giving away his clothing to those more needy, and spreading his money to those without any. Some years later, Joseph received word that his mother was enduring her own health crisis. He gathered his creative skills and wrote a poem, which became known eventually as, “What a Friend we have in Jesus. ” This he did for his mother alone, never intending anyone else to see it. But she passed it on to a friend… who published it as a hymn, though at the time, no one knew the author.

At about the same time, Joseph again fell in love and planned his wedding. And once more, tragedy visited him. Joseph’s fiancée contracted tuberculosis… and soon passed away. He continued to bury himself in many charitable endeavors. Much later, not long before his own death, Scriven lay in bed as a friend came to comfort him. The friend, saw next to Joseph’s bed, the poem, “What a Friend we have in Jesus, ” scribbled on a piece of paper. His friend asked him about the poem. Joseph acknowledged that he had composed the poem years earlier for his mother while she was enduring a time of testing. His friend asked him, “Is it true that you wrote this text? ” “The Lord and I did it together, ” he replied, “all my life I’ve been blessed by this hymn as well. A gift to us, born out of the excruciating pain of one another. ”

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J.C

Olympia, WA, United States

Oct 27, 2023

When I am in too much distress to say a word and pray, I, like Helen, sing this hymn to the Lord instead, As I meditate on the words and sing over and over, the words start speaking to myself, and suddenly I have that perfect solace from God.

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Helen Mary Shaw

Belfast, United Kingdom

Oct 24, 2023

Joseph Scriven, the author of this lovely hymn was born in Banbridge, Co Down, Northern Ireland - where I'm from. He died in Port Hope, Canada.

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Helen Mary Shaw

Belfast, United Kingdom

Oct 24, 2023

I often find it difficult to pray and instead recite this hymn - it brings me solace when I'm troubled.

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Segun

Budapest, Hungary

Oct 21, 2023

This hymn says it all. No problem big or small, relevant or irrelevant in our mind is insignificant to our Lord. Let's take all our situations to the Lord to develop a deep mature fellowship with Him. We can talk with the Lord Jesus about anything isn't that wonderful. Just following the lines in this hymn guides us into a sweet fellowship with the Lord to pour out our heart to Him so that in return we are Filled with Him. Amen

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Kelvin Momoh Kobba

Stockholm, Södermanland, Sweden

Oct 19, 2023

Jesus have saved my life and guiding to through eternal life!

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