A form of music notation where notes are represented as numbers instead of on a staff. Numbered notation is commonly used in Eastern music.
Numbered Notation, also called Cipher Notation or JianPu, is a system widely used in China.
Some of the basic conventions:
The numbers 1 - 7 are used to represent diatonic pitches in the same way as Moveable Do: 1 = tonic pitch, etc. 0 indicates a rest; X indicates a non-pitched sound (e.g., unpitched percussion).
Vertically placed dots above or below the numbers indicate raising or lowering the pitch by octave(s).
Chords are indicated by vertically aligned pitch numbers.
A number alone is equivalent to a quarter-note. Underlines each halve the note value; dashes extend the value by one quarter-note each.
Source and for more detailed information: Wikipedia:Numbered musical notation
