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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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My song is love unknown

Praise of the Lord His Suffering

English96
1
My song is love unknown,
My Savior’s love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I,
That for my sake
My Lord should take
Frail flesh, and die?
2
He came from His blest throne
Salvation to bestow;
But men made strange, and none
The longed-for Christ would know:
But oh, my Friend,
My Friend indeed,
Who at my need
His life did spend.
3
Sometimes they strew His way,
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the day
Hosannas to their King:
Then “Crucify!”
Is all their breath,
And for His death
They thirst and cry.
4
They rise and needs will have
My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they save,
The Prince of life they slay.
Yet cheerful He
To suffering goes,
That He His foes
From thence might free.
5
In life, no house, no home
My Lord on earth might have;
In death, no friendly tomb,
But what a stranger gave.
What may I say?
Heav’n was His home;
But mine the tomb
Wherein He lay.
6
Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine;
Never was love, dear King,
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend,
In whose sweet praise
I all my days
Could gladly spend.

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Un Hermano

Oct 12, 2025

At such a time we need to pray, saying, “Lord, have mercy on me. I do not want to walk by this ugly flesh instigated by Your enemy. I want to enjoy You, Lord. ” Then, perhaps with tears, we may go on to pray, “Father, I take Your Son, my dear Lord, as my burnt offering. I cannot be absolutely for You, but I can enjoy such a life in Him. I take Him as my burnt offering to offer to You, Father. I also take Him as my daily food. ” This will bring us into the enjoyment of Christ as the peace offering. Then, as we are before the Lord, we will be enlightened and exposed, and we will see what kind of person we are. At this point we need the dear Lord Jesus as our sin offering. This is to take as our sin offering the very Christ who is our burnt offering, meal offering, and peace offering. This sequence is not a doctrinal matter. Rather, it is according to our personal, and often painful, experience.

Life-study of Leviticus

Chapter 18 (LSM)

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Un Hermano

Oct 12, 2025

The main word stressed in Isaiah 12 is salvation. God is our salvation, and Jah Jehovah is our strength and song. Strength and song both indicate experience. When God’s salvation is experienced by us, this salvation becomes our strength, and eventually it will be our song, our praising. The strength and the song are experiences of salvation. In our experiences our God is Jah and Jehovah. In the New Testament, our God is called Jesus and Christ. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. When we are calling upon Him, we can say in a very intimate way, “My Lord Jesus Christ. ” Sometimes we can express this in a more dear way by saying, “My dear Lord Jesus Christ. ” Jah Jehovah in the New Testament is our Lord Jesus Christ.

Life-study of Isaiah

Chapter 40 (LSM)

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Ja Goebel

Duncanville, TX, United States

Aug 12, 2023

There is another set of words, most beautiful for this tune- John Kent's lyrics:

One of the stanzas says:

Preserved by Jesus when, my feet made haste to hell.
And there should I have gone but Thou dost all things well.
Thy love was great, Thy mercy free,
Which from the pit delivered me.

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Steve Miller

Detroit, Michigan, United States

Jan 13, 2022

We sang this song at church this past Sunday. A brother shared that "yet for the joy to suffering goes" (see change to stanza 4 below) refers to us. We are that joy that the Lord saw as His prize to be willing to endure the cross. That joy is both for us corporately as His church, and for each of us individually as saved sinners.

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Linda

Oxford, United Kingdom

Mar 24, 2020

My favourite hymn

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Egidio Beltran

Temuco, Chile

Feb 25, 2015

en español esta este himno,o alguien tiene este himno en español es muy disfrutable!

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Steve Miller

Detroit, MI, United States

Jul 16, 2014

I think an improvement to stanza 4 would be to change "cheerful He" to "for the joy", which is true according to Hebrews 12:2 and keeps the intention of the hymn's author.

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Steve Miller

Detroit, MI, United States

Jul 15, 2014

Samuel Crossman was associated with the Bristol Cathedral in England and became its dean shortly before his death. He published a small book called "The Young Man's Meditation." This hymn was lost for nearly 200 years until it was revived in 1868 in the "Anglican Hymn Book." - Songs of the Spirit by Martin

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

In stanza 4, the word "cheerful" is not accurate to describe the Lord's emotions while being led to the cross. Some hymnals have changed it to "steadfast" (I think correctly).

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There is an additional stanza following stanza 3 above:
Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
he gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries!
Yet they at these
themselves displease,
and 'gainst him rise.

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Rita

Kampala, Uganda

Jun 25, 2012

Thank You Lord that never was love, never was grief so great like Thine. And this is our Friend, He is right in our spirit, we need to spend endless days singing His praise!

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Glenn

Fullerton, CA, United States

Apr 14, 2012

This is another gem hymn on the Lord's dynamic complete suffering as a God-man, with the Father's compassion and forgiveness of the sins of all mankind. What a hymn of the divine and mystical truth signified by His all-inclusive and all-encompassing death on the cross. Amen!! Thank You Lord Jesus for Your marvelous accomplishment. You alone art worthy to be praised!

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