When I first started memorizing the calendar as a five year old, I created visual and auditory images of the prime time television lineup to every date in that year. First, I would look at the name of the month that appeared in red at the bottom of each page, then I would look at the number in the square and say the combination in my head a few times. For example, June 22 Wednesday. At first this might seem boring and typical of the way most people memorize. However, I added visual and auditory images. As I looked at each block, I would visualise an image of a character who would be on prime time television that night. For June 22 I would see an image of Batman and play the tune in my head. For the 23rd Thursday it would be Robin - same tune, June 24 The Green Hornet, and June 25 Flipper. I would spend about a minute for each day of the year doing the same routine. I practiced the entire sequence for five consecutive days Monday February 28 to Friday March 4. By the end of the week I knew the day of the week that every day of the year 1966 occurred or will occur on. I had a year of the calendar memorized before I knew how to read.
     Since I obviously had never read a book on memory, I discovered my new ability serendipitously. Unwittingly I was applying several mnemonic principles.

 1. Rote Rehearsal - saying the combination of date and day a few times, for example Monday June 20

 2. Elaborative rehearsal - Creating an association with pictures, sounds, and any combination of senses.

     By paring the visual image with the block and the date and playing the tune I was creating associations between disparate items. Now I would see a block with a date in it and think of an image of Batman or Flipper (a dolphin) and by combining the two images I would think of the day of the week (Wednesday if it was Batman and Saturday if it was Flipper).
     Elaborative rehearsal can be enhanced if you combine more than one sense in your image. I combined the visual sense by picturing the images, and the auditory sense by playing the theme songs in my head. The more senses you apply the stronger the image is that you created as a memory aid. I could have added sensory material for Flipper for the Saturdays by imagining the feel of swimming in the water riding Flipper (Kinesthetic) or imagined eating dolphin meat (Gustatory). The images would have been stronger but they were strong enough using two senses. Most images that you create will be strong enough with two senses and some with just one sense. However, the more senses that you employ the stronger the image.
     Many memory experts advocate creating a silly picture for your images. By silly, they mean that is bizarre enough to not happen in real life. You might imagine Batman turning into a bat, or Robin turning into a real Robin. Or for Sunday imagine the Disney castle growing Mickey Mouse ears. While it helps to have a bizarre picture, often if you combine the rote rehearsal of reciting the fact with the elaborative rehearsal of creating pictures and sounds, the picture is still effective and you will remember.
     Most memory experts will say that elaborative rehearsal is more effective than rote rehearsal. By itself it is. However, I have found through my learning and teaching memory that memorizing is the most effective when rote and elaborative are combined.
     Would you like to learn how to memorize a year of the calendar in a short time? In the next few blogs I will show you a way to learn a year much more quickly than the way I did it.