Slurs

First of all, a slur is one of curved lines that goes over the top of a selection of notes, right?

What do they mean?

I originally thought that it meant that there was resonance connecting all these notes so to speak (there's a similar thing in guitar music called 'let ring').

So I thought that slurs were telling me when to hold the sustain pedal down while playing piano.

But recently I've been learning this Debussy piece called Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, and there's this huge slur over all of the first notes, like 6 bars or whatever. But when I listen to the mp3 of some other guy playing it, it does not sound like he is sustaining the notes.

So I'm confused. What do these lines mean?

Thanks.

It the mean phrases, but is correct to call it a Ligature (music) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In string instruments, it means played on one bow. In wind instruments, it means to play without tonguing. If over a small amount, it means like you said.

However, these are generalisations.

There are more reasons for different instruments:

Ligatures shouldn't be confused with legato slurs though. Most slurs you see designate legato articulation, which means, as ArcticWind7 said, that those notes are to be played without interruption, as a constant stream. (As mentioned, for string instruments on one bow, for winds without tonguing, for the piano to make no pause between one and the next note.)

Legato slurs do not designate phrases, it is merely an articulation. Phrases are designated by ligatures, which look exactly the same as legato slurs, but are often longer. It is not always totally clear which one is meant though, but if it's a relatively low number of notes it covers you can generally assume it's a legato.

There's also the tie, looks the same again, which always connects two notes of the same pitch, and is used to bind notes over a measure or some other division.

Pedal use is either not notated at all, or designated by "Ped" followed either by a dotted line to when it ends, or an asterisk (*) at the point when it should be lifted.

There's also the tie, looks the same again, which always connects two notes of the same pitch, and is used to bind notes over a measure or some other division.

Which I find annoying... especially when I want a Db tying over to a C#... (I can't really have A-Db-E as a chord can I..., as I can't have Eb-G-Bb-C#...)

Thanks, makes sense to me now.

I've also seen legato slurs and staccatos on the same notes, which means sometimes that you have to accentuate each note (through playing them staccato) AND play legato (through holding the pedal on the piano, for example.)

Sometimes it means that there a short breath between each note, which is not as short as a staccato.

It's all so, very, confusing.

Sometimes it means that there a short breath between each note, which is not as short as a staccato.

Which can also be notated by a tenuto and stoccato insignia above notes.

Yeah. Why can't people agree on stuff like this? Janacek I'm looking at you.

I've seen marching percussion (battery) music written with slurs between several individual notes and then a big slur over the entire phrase.

I'm like, what