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Prosody
I just met with a friend who works in tech who has been meeting with many different A.I. companies. He said the one thing they are having a hard time with is Prosody. They cannot get it right, despite throwing an enormous amount of compute power at the issue. Prosody (i’d never heard the word) is the intonation, emphasis on certain syllables and general tone of the human voice. It is what makes what we say and how we say it different, rich, and complex. An essential part of the Yoga practices, especially chanting, focus on getting energy flowing and moving into the heart centre (Anahata Chakra) towards the throat centre (Vishuddha Chakra). This allows us to speak from the heart. To say what we mean and mean what we say. This is easier said than done. It is the ability to say what is in your heart, not just your head. It is not easy to fake it and not express how your heart feels. How many times have you heard someone say, or maybe said, yourself: ‘I’m not upset, everything is fine.’ When actually that is not the case? The root of the word Prosody comes from the Greek, Pros=towards and Ōidē=song. Ultimately our voices are moving towards song, the essential expression of the heart. The great singers, like Ganavya and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, are not just expressing their heart through their voices, but also their spirit. By doing so they connect us back to our own spirit. One of these A.I. company founders that presented to my friend, was excited because she had figured out how to have Elton John sing about anything you prompt. The example was Sir Elton singing about a rainy day in London. I would rather hear him sing about what is in his heart…what it feels like to be a Rocket Man on Mars 🚀
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