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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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In His Christ to head up all things

Ultimate Manifestation Christ Heading Up All Things

English981
1
In His Christ to head up all things
Is our God’s economy;
Taking Christ as Head and Center,
All is one in harmony.
2
Christ as Head will be the Center;
God within will be the Light;
Christ enthroned, with God, His substance,
Will fulfill His heart’s delight.
3
Christ as life will be the content,
Heading up all things in light;
All the saints will be the vessel,
To express His glory bright.
4
Satan hath himself injected
Into man all things to spoil,
Bringing darkness and corruption
God’s eternal plan to foil.
5
Christ has come, Himself imparting
Into man as life to save,
That the pow’r of death and darkness
May no more all things enslave.
6
Thru the Church which is His Body
Christ as Head will sum up all;
All will fitly join together,
All things either great or small.
7
Under Christ, by His full headship,
All in union will subsist;
In the light the Church expresses
All in oneness will exist.
8
Owning Christ as Head and Center,
All will be in harmony;
Thru the shining of His Body
All will share His liberty.
9
No more darkness and corruption,
No more death and vanity;
All will be released from bondage
Throughout all eternity.

Copyright Living Stream Ministry. Used by permission.

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Lungelo Goodman Ngwenya

Mbabane, Swaziland

Jul 11, 2025

Isa. 66:1
Thus says Jehovah,
Heaven is My throne,
And the earth the footstool for My feet.
Where then is the house that you will build for Me,
And where is the place of My rest?
That is His Temple and that is the Church.
Amen.
Sending love ❣️ to all brothers and sisters in Christ.

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A Brother

United States

Apr 2, 2025

The Head and Center of All Things

In the divine economy Christ is the Head and center of all things. Ephesians 1:22 says, “And He subjected all things under His feet, and gave Him to be Head over all things to the church. ” God has seated Christ at His right hand in the heavenlies, subjected all things under His feet, and made Him Head over all things to the church. The headship over all things has been given to Christ as a gift from God. This does not mean that God gave Christ to the church as a gift; it means that God gave Christ a gift—the headship over all things. According to this understanding, a great gift was given to Christ by God, and this great gift was the headship over all things. The little word “to” in Ephesians 1:22 signifies the identification and oneness of the church with Christ, Christ is the Head over all things to the church, which is His Body.

Ephesians 1:10 says, “Unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him. ” We have seen that God has made Christ the Head over all things. Through all the dispensations of God in all the ages, all things will be headed up in Christ in the new heaven and the new earth. This will be God’s eternal administration and economy. The Greek word rendered “dispensation” in this verse may also be translated “economy. ” The economy, or dispensation, which God purposed in Himself is to head up all things in Christ at the fullness of the times.

The entire universe is under Christ’s heading up. However, many things are still in a state of collapse because the process of the heading up of all things in Christ has not yet been completed. At the economy of the fullness of times everything will be headed up in Christ. Nothing will continue to be in a state of collapse, and nothing will fall. In Christ God will head up all things. The following stanzas from Hymns, #981 speak of this:

In His Christ to head up all things
Is our God’s economy;
Taking Christ as Head and Center,
All is one in harmony.
Christ as Head will be the Center;
God within will be the Light;
Christ enthroned, with God, His substance,
Will fulfill His heart’s delight.

Ephesians 1:10 indicates that in the divine economy Christ is not only the Head of all things but also the center of all things. Christ is the center for the heading up of all things in Himself. We may use the hub of a wheel as an illustration. The hub is the center of a wheel in which all the spokes subsist. If the hub were removed, the spokes would collapse. The hub is the center for the subsistence of the spokes. We may say that as the center of all things Christ is the “hub” of all things; in Him all things subsist (Col. 1:17).

THE CONCLUSION OF
THE NEW TESTAMENT
MESSAGE 24 (LSM)

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Glory Jung

Anaheim, CA, United States

Sep 27, 2021

Light is a ruling power that causes all things to be in oneness and harmony (Rev. 22:5; Eph. 1:10). Light being a ruling power is the thought of Hymns, #981.

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Thanh Le

San Francisco, California, United States

Jun 14, 2020

Heading up all things in Christ, we, all saints, are one in harmony because Christ is our life and our content. Let us take Christ as Head and center, so that we will be His expression. Amen, hallelujah!

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Alan Barragán

San Juan Del Río, Querétaro, Mexico

May 31, 2020

Alabado es el Señor por la Iglesias que es Su cuerpo, Cristo todo reunirá

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Allen In Christ

San Marcos, TX, United States

Feb 11, 2019

Satan hath himself injected
Into man all things to spoil,
Bringing darkness and corruption
God’s eternal plan to foil.
Christ has come, Himself imparting
Into man as life to save,
That the pow’r of death and darkness
May no more all things enslave.

Read more
Newvadim

Moscow, Russia

Jan 28, 2015

26*
(РС438, А981)
ОКОНЧАТЕЛЬНОЕ ПРОЯВЛЕНИЕ
ХРИСТОС ВОЗГЛАВЛЯЕТ ВСЁ

1. Божий замысел извечный —
Во Христе возглавить всё;
Со Христом — Главой и Центром
Всё — в согласье, всё — одно.

2. Как Глава Он будет Центром;
Будет Светом Бог внутри;
Царь-Христос с природой Божьей
Божий замысел свершит.

3. И как жизнь и содержанье,
Он возглавит в свете всё;
Как сосуд Его, святые
Славу выразят Его.

4. Враг вселился в человека,
Чтоб творенье осквернить,
Божий замысел извечный
Тьмой и тленьем поглотить.

5. Но как жизнь Христос-Спаситель
В человека Сам вошёл,
Тьмы и смерти власть разрушив,
Всё в свободу Он привёл.

6. Как Глава, чрез Тело, церковь,
Всё Христос объединит;
Всё со всем Он соразмерит,
Свяжет вместе и сплотит.

7. Так Христос Своим главенством
Будет всё объединять;
В свете, что являет церковь,
Всё единым сможет стать.

8. Где Христос — Глава и Центр,
Там в согласье всё придёт;
Через свет Христова Тела
Всё свободу обретёт.

9. Тленья, смерти, тьмы не будет —
Им исчезнуть суждено.
Всё от этих уз навеки
Будет освобождено!

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