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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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God Hath Not Promised (1)

Comfort in Trials By Grace for Suffering

New Tunes720
1
God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.
 
But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.
2
God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.
3
God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river, turbid and deep.

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Bridge

Jan 2, 2007

This song is so marvelous! It helps me to see my daily situation with a different perspective. Now I am learning to make the urgent turn to my spirit and opening up to Him. Each time I do so I drink of Him, take His Being in to be my life supply so that I can go through each particular step. I want this to be my moment by moment reality....because I love Him!!!!!

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Teila Tosado

New York, U.S.A.

Jan 26, 2005

God ordains the days to be the way they are so we can call upon His name and pray to Him through out the day. Many times I would pray to have a good day, and I would not have much of a good day. Stanza three says "God has not promised smooth roads, and wide - Swift easy travel needing no guide." Being in middle school I find it more helpful to call upon the Lord's name.

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Elvis

Barbados

Jun 22, 2004

The song is a refreshing blend of Spirit inspired words and soothing melody. It put me in a mode of reflection. Envisioning our Lord and Saviour glorified after His sacrifice for us. It allows you, me that is, to enjoy all the types of Christ in His creation. My first encounter compelled me to learn the song in a day as I offer up the very sames words of the song as a pray to our Father... Amen.

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Rachel Becker

Surrey, BC, Canada

Mar 5, 2003

This song is the best song and very enjoyable. It has very nice tune too. I hope everyone will enjoy it too, because I love it so much! And praise the Lord!

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Ron Mammen

Surrey, BC, Canada

Dec 11, 2002

My name Ron and I have been enjoying the hymns so much...Especially "God Hath Not Promised Skies Always Blue"...It is a wonderful song and has helped me through my day which is filled with distractions from many friends at high school and the world... Praise the Lord that we can depend on Him!!

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Filip S. Syrek

Reading, United Kingdom

Oct 7, 2002

Thank You, Lord that in the midst of intermixed and interwoven situations, often when my heart is heavy laden You give me the strength for the day...

This song is so true and so experiential. So often times I forget what the Lord actually promised and drift into a state of expecting the deliverence. NO! God hath not promised to deliver - He promised to give grace and strength for the day! Oh, this is too, too precious! God is with us in our sufferings... How sweet and intimate it is. We know that the momentary lightness of afflictions will work out for us an eternal weight of glory... His grace is sufficient! Even when in the middle of heart-squeezing anguish I doubt - it is so. I take His promises, promises in His Word through faith and not by feeling - this is what makes me a partaker of the divine nature!!! Hallelujah! God has promised strength for the day!!!

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Anonymous

Toronto, ON, Canada

Jan 31, 2002

I really enjoyed this song with some other sisters and I have realized how true God's promise to us is. I experienced just how comforting the Lord can be in our daily trials and hardships. In this song, it relates to how God is not promising us a carefree and easy life without anything to worry about. Instead it tells us all the hard sufferings that we probably will have to go through in our daily living and throughout our entire life. But instead of offering a perfect life, or to keep all problems away from us, God offers what He is and has as Himself. He promises us His grace, strength, light, and help, through all the hardships of life. He is also there to guide us and help us out of our difficulties. No matter how ridiculous or pathetic the situation might be, or how other people might have laughed instead of sympathized, God's sympathy is truly inexhaustible, never running out and He is also offering to us His undying and everlasting love. Through all the difficulties of life, God is there to comfort our trials.

Some of us probably wonder, "Well, if God is the Almighty and He has power over everything in the universe, then why does He make us go through these hardships? Why do we need His grace for our suffering, why can't He just make our life easy, then we won't need Him to comfort and help us?" However, if we think carefully, God uses these opportunities to gain us and show us how real He can be to us. Usually, for most of us, when life seems wonderful and everything is going fine, we shut Him out of our life. Our reasoning is usually, "Hey, my life is going just fine. Why do I need the Lord? Life is complete without Him." When life is like that, we go on with our daily living without experiencing Him or having any contact with Him. Therefore, God creates these situations in which we are so hopeless and have no control over it that we will turn away from the world and to the Lord. And when we turn to Him, HALLELUJAH!, we get such a sweet and personal experience of Him! God's goal is to work Himself into Man. However, because of our stubbornness, and continuously refusing to turn to Him, the Lord has to keep on using these situations to gain us, because it's almost the only time that we will allow Him to speak to us.

If you have been in darkness for a long time, just turn to the Lord in your troubles and He will be there to guide you. Not only that, but we shouldn't only turn to God when we are in trouble, but we should talk to Him every single day! He is willing to listen to you, sympathize and love when you feel low, and He will guide you for the rest of your life if you will simply turn and listen to His voice. You will realize also, how sweet and real He will be to you. Amen.

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