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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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Christ is the hope of glory, my very life is He

Hope of Glory Christ as the Glorification

English949
1
Christ is the hope of glory, my very life is He,
He has regenerated and saturated me;
He comes to change my body by His subduing might
Like to His glorious body in glory bright!
 
He comes, He comes, Christ comes to glorify me!
My body He’ll transfigure, like His own it then will be.
He comes, He comes, redemption to apply!
As Hope of glory He will come, His saints to glorify.
2
Christ is the hope of glory, He is God’s mystery;
He shares with me God’s fullness and brings God into me.
He comes to make me blended with God in every way,
That I may share His glory with Him for aye.
3
Christ is the hope of glory, redemption full is He:
Redemption to my body, from death to set it free,
He comes to make my body a glorious one to be
And swallow death forever in victory.
4
Christ is the hope of glory, He is my history:
His life is my experience, for He is one with me;
He comes to bring me into His glorious liberty,
That one with Him completely I’ll ever be.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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Tina

Lubbock, TX, United States

Sep 6, 2026

Christ is the Hope of Glory, ny very hope is He.

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Jlin

United States

Feb 1, 2026

That I may share His glory with Him for aye.

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Anitha Nokku

Tustin, CA, United States

Dec 29, 2025

Christ is the hope of glory. He is our redemption, he makes our body, soul and spirit blameless, he is coming to take away death forever and make us his counter part his glorious bride.

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Ann Barton

Lubbock, TX, United States

Nov 26, 2025

He comes! He comes! He comes to glorify..

Thank You Lord. You are our Hope of Glory!

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Ana Lara

Storrs, Connecticut, United States

Jun 29, 2025

When we study the gospel of Mark, we are actually studying our own biography. This means that the biography of Jesus is also our biography. In the words of a hymn, “He is my history, ” and “His life is my experience” (hymn 949). Therefore the biography narrated in Mark is not only a biography of the individual Jesus, but also a biography of the believers.

In particular, the gospel of Mark is a biography of Peter, our representative. Peter is present in the first chapter of Mark, and his name is specifically mentioned in the last chapter: “But go, tell His disciples and Peter that He is going before you into Galilee” (16:7). Furthermore, the cases in this book are a composite portrait of us as represented by Peter. For example, on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter said, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. And let us make three tabernacles –– one for You , and one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (9:5). Because Peter is our representative his speaking here is also our speaking. Likewise, when Peter denied the Lord three times, that was also our three-fold denial of the Lord. The angel’s word concerning Peter in 16:7 is also a word concerning us. As we read this verse, it is correct to insert our name in the place of Peter’s name, since we are represented by him.

From the time Peter was called by the Lord Jesus in 1:16-17, he was captured by Him and was always with Him. Along with James and John, he was with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration. This indicates that wherever the Lord Jesus went, Peter went with Him, for the Lord brought Peter with Him.

Do you believe that when the Lord Jesus was crucified, He left Peter and the disciples? No, when the Lord Jesus was crucified and buried, Peter, the representative of us all was crucified with Him. Moreover, the Lord Jesus was not resurrected alone. According to God‘s point of view, which is beyond the elements of space and time, we all were included in Christ’s resurrection.

(Life-Study of Mark). Message 61–A Biography of Believers.

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Maria L

Fremont, California, United States

Jan 25, 2025

Praise the Lord! It is a blessing that we believers in Christ can know and experience the all-inclusive Christ! Christ is the Head of the Body, the church, that He might have the first place in all things, and that the all-inclusive Christ is in us to be the hope of glory! Hallelujah! 😀

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Jeff Hall

Church In Worcester, Massachusetts, United States

Jan 19, 2025

We become the same as he is, then He Glorifies us! If we live out this life in the Spirit, We express Him and He is a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him, So as He was Glorified by the Father, He will Glorify Us! What a God is He!

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James Henry

Aruba

Mar 17, 2024

Amin. How God loves us!

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Bryant V

San Jose, CA, United States

Mar 10, 2024

As Hope of glory He will come, His saints to glorify!

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Remon Moussa

Cairo, Egypt

Feb 25, 2024

Christ is the hope of glory, amen!

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