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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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Lo, the central thought of God

Ultimate Manifestation God’s Central Thought

English972
1
Lo, the central thought of God
Is that He be one with man;
He to man is everything
That He might fulfill His plan.
2
Earthen vessel man was made—
Body, soul, and spirit too,
God as life that he may take
And with Him have oneness true.
3
By the flow of life divine,
Man becomes a precious stone
Fit for building God’s abode,
That His glory might be known.
4
’Tis the city God hath built,
’Tis the dwelling God requires,
’Tis the new Jerusalem
Which fulfills His heart’s desires.
5
’Tis the building of the saints,
’Tis the blend of God and man,
Purposed by the Father’s will
Long before the world began.
6
In its center, as its pow’r,
Is the throne of Christ and God,
Whence doth flow the stream of life
As the Spirit’s living flood.
7
Christ, the tree of life, is there
In the flowing of the stream,
Yielding fruit of life divine
As the food of life supreme.
8
God in Christ, the glorious light,
Thru the city brightly shines,
Scattering all the deathly night
With its light of life divine.
9
God in man and man in God
Mutual dwelling thus possess;
God the content is to man,
And the man doth God express.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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Maria L

Fremont, CA, United States

Aug 20, 2026

Praise the Lord! God in Christ, the glorious light. Thru the city brightly shines. Scattering all the deathly night

With its light of life divine.

God shines from the throne through Christ as the lamp, and we as the city diffuse the light, shining upon the nations (Rev. 21:24). Hallelujah! 😀

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S. Myers

Renton, Washington, United States

Mar 14, 2024

Oh Hallelujah, I repent of many years blinded by worldly cares. Typically as man gets older he loses his vision gradually, but what happens when born again we begin to eat and drink this living bread and living water and grow in life and blindness is no more and gradually we see God's Economy and vision is totally restored and resurrection life can be experienced over and over as we eat and drink and Christ becomes all our life. By grace we have truly found the secret of living, Hallelujah!

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Stuart Xiang

Fremont, California, United States

Jun 21, 2023

This song

This song goes well with what I enjoyed from the last semi-annual training in Anaheim:

<<Practical points concerning blending>> has this paragraph. “after my study of the Bible for the past 69 years what have I seen? I have seen the New Jerusalem. this is my vision, this is my revelation, this is my ministry. ”

Gen. 1&2 we see God, we see man, we see a tree, we see a river, we see a marriage.

What do we see in Rev. 21&22? We see God, we see man, we see a tree, we see a river, we see a marriage. The Bible is so wonderful! I didn’t see that, I want to see that.

Thru the help of the brothers and thru conferences and trainings, we can see God’s purpose, God’s economy, we see life and building. We see it in Genesis, Exodus, we see it in Psalms, we see it in the Prophets, we see it in the Gospels— the gospel of John is a book of life and building, and it connects to Revelation, it’s one book! It’s our river scene. And it didn’t start from us, the Lord raised up His faithful ones. There, in what history calls reformation, not only Martin Luther, there are other faithful ones that are lesser known, and the Lord showed them things, and showed them things, and through the centuries. But the one unique thing, especially our dear brother Watchman Nee, is that he had the way, especially to bring everything together. And to realize that we are standing on the shoulders of so many who have gone before. So this is not replacing, this is not putting them aside. This is honoring them and building further. That’s our river scene. But our brother Nee, and our dear brother, brother Lee, Witness Lee, they saw more, and it was not until later, even though he mentioned the new Jerusalem here and there, and brought out things, he told us it was not until those days, that before him was this view, the new Jerusalem. And with that view, you look at anything on our scroll, do you understand my language? And you can see, everything points to the new Jerusalem. Does it not say about Abraham in Hebrews 11? That he waited for the city that has the foundations whose architect and maker is God. Does it not say, those faithful ones, later in Hebrews 11, they were strangers and sojourners, they did not have roots in this earth, they were waiting for a better country, that’s new Jerusalem! That’s our scroll. Dear brothers and sisters , that’s the vision we all need to have. So that we pick up any book of the Bible with the help of our brothers, and we see the whole view.

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Vincent Okoro

Lagos, Nigeria

Aug 22, 2015

Hallelujah! God in man and man in God mutual dwelling place thus possess!

Lord we give ourselves to You that You may fulfill Your plan.

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Majess Padilla

Cagayan De Oro City, Mis.or. 9017, Philippines

Aug 21, 2013

PTL! What a great God I have! His heart's desire is that He'll be one with me,.. become my everything so that He can fulfill His plan! I was an earthen vessel but filled with precious gold, the life of Christ and has possess this mutual dwelling for His abode. Amen.

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