Recommended Documentaries

(Extra Activity)

Provide your child with additional fun options to fulfill their Carnegie Credit hours! In addition to the 40+ hours of recommended activities built into the Homeschool Vocal Gym course, we recommend the following films. These documentaries are rich with music industry insights, behind-the-scenes footage of touring professionals, artists’ personal challenges and triumphs, and music history across several genres.

This list is NOT included in your child’s homeschool curriculum due to maturity ratings (primarily due to explicit language). Please use discretion as to which documentaries you feel may be appropriate to share with your child based on their age, maturity, and family values. Also, be sure to check your current subscriptions (Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, etc) to see if it’s already available to you and your child for free.

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS: We recommend one of two activities for any of the documentaries listed below: (1) Instruct your child to write a brief summary (250-500 words) of the selected documentary in essay form to help ensure that they are actively learning and that the hours can be included towards their homeschooling. Alternatively, (2) ask your child to list 5 significant things they learned, detailing their relevance to the featured artist/person and/or time period.

Pending the selection (single film or series), this activity can add anywhere from 1:45 (1hr and 45 mins) to 8:00 (8hrs) towards homeschool credit hours and can be repeated for as many documentaries as you approve!

PART OF ME

KATY PERRY

2012 / 13+ / 1hr 33min

MUSCLE SHOALS

KEITH RICHARDS / ARETHA FRANKLIN

2013 / PG / 1hr 51min

20 FEET FROM STARDOM

DARLENE LOVE / MERRY CLAYTON

2013 / PG-13 / 1hr 30min

THIS IS US

ONE DIRECTION

2013 / PG-13 / 1hr 46min

SOME KIND OF MONSTER

METALLICA

2014 / 16+ / 2hr 21min

NOTHING OR
NOTHING AT ALL

FRANK SINATRA

2015 / 16+ / 4hr 2min

THE SOUNDTRACK
OF OUR LIVES

CLIVE DAVIS

2017 / 13+ / 2hr 4min

FIVE FOOT TWO

LADY GAGA

2017 / 16+ / 1hr 40min

RUMBLE

NATIVE AMERICANS

2017 / MA / 1hr 46min

WHAM!

WHAM!

2023 / 14+ / 1hr 32min

QUINCY

QUINCY JONES

2018 / 16+ / 2hr 4min

THE MAN IN BLACK

JOHNNY CASH

2018 / 14+ / 58min

PAVAROTTI

LUCIANO PAVAROTTI

2019 / PG-13 / 1hr 54min

BIRTH OF THE COOL

MILES DAVIS / CARL LUMBLY

2019 / 16+ / 1hr 55min

OFF THE RECORD

DAVID FOSTER

2019 / MA / 1hr 46min

LITTLE OL BAND FROM TEXAS

ZZ TOP

2019 / MA / 1hr 30min

JUST ONE OF THOSE THINGS

ELLA FITZGERALD

2019 / 14+ / 1hr 29min

HERE I AM

DOLLY PARTON

2019 / 14+ / 1hr 29min

THE SHOW MUST GO ON

QUEEN

2019 / MA / 1hr 25min

TUNING THE BRAIN WITH MUSIC

RESEARCH & SCIENCE

2019 / PG / 1hr 18min

LIGHT UP THE SKY

BLACKPINK

2020 / 13+ / 1hr 19min

HOW MUSIC GETS MADE

8 EPISODE SERIES

2020 / 16+ / 3hr 19min

MISS AMERICANA

TAYLOR SWIFT

2020 / 13+ / 1hr 25min

IN WONDER

SHAWN MENDES

2020 / 16+ / 1hr 23min

GET BACK (BEATLES)

4 EPISODE SERIES

2021 / PG / 7hr 48min

SUMMER OF SOUL

LIVE CONCERT 1969

2021 / PG-13 / 4hr 1min

COUNT ME IN

ROCK DRUMMERS

2021 / MA / 1hr 21min

THE SPARKS BROTHERS

THE SPARKS

2021 / R / 2hr 21min

NOT JUST A GIRL

SHANIA TWAIN

2022 / MA / 1hr 28min

HALFTIME

JENNIFER LOPEZ

2022 / 16+ / 1hr 16min

LIKE A ROLLING STONE

BEN FONG-TORRES

2022 / MA / 1hr 39min

HALLELUJAH

LEONARD COHEN

2022 / PG-13 / 1hr 57min