Francyl began working as a professional performer at the age of 15. She performs in venues including the Tacoma Dome, the World Parliament of Religions in Melbourne, Australia, Fanueil Hall in Boston and Kerr McGee Plaza in Oklahoma City. Her performances include music for audiences of all ages.
She studied music at Sonoma State College in California, and later received a Paraprofessional Certificate of Training for the Kodaly Method of Music Education. She taught elementary school music in the Berkeley, Albany and Alameda School Districts for five years, and has taught guitar privately to teens and adults since the early 1970's. She currently teaches guitar, piano and voice through the City of Boulder City.
Beginning in 1979 she produced seven album-length recordings of her own songs as well as works by others. Two of these recordings are for children, and all are available through her independent label, Streanomusic. She self-published "Speak, My Soul" a book of 37 of her song texts with beautifully descriptive folk-art paper cut illustrations by Robin Goodfellow.
She served as Music Director for Youth Theater Northwest working with high school youth on the productions, "All For One" and "Working" and with elementary school children on the production of "Seussical."
She served as the Children's Choir Director at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in Bellevue, Saturday Service Music Director and Hand bell Choir Director at Mercer Island Presbyterian Church, Interim Music Director for Redeemer Lutheran Church, and Music Director for the Church of Mary Magdalene, a church for homeless women in Seattle.
During her work with the Church of Mary Magdalene, she and nine of her choir members traveled to Washington D.C. to sing her song, "Carry The Witness, Honor The Dream" at the "March Against The Silence" in October of 1996. This march, from the Washington Monument, down the Mall to the Capitol Building, was organized to raise awareness about domestic violence in the US. "Carry the Witness, Honor the Dream" is the state anthem for the Washington Silent Witness Project.
Over the last two decades Francyl composed a large body of music for liturgical use for solo vocal/guitar, as well as adult choral works, chamber and orchestral works, children's songs and congregational songs. Her "A Contemporary Requiem" was commissioned and performed at Mercer Island Presbyterian Church in November of 2000.
As a Board Member of Seattle Composer's Alliance, she worked with other members to educate Seattle area composers regarding opportunities to further their craft. Through the Pacific Northwest Film Scoring Program, she collaborated with other composers to produce three orchestral film scores. In 2000 the film score for "Curro" was composed with Allison Crook. Francyl and Allison were awarded the Nell Shipman Award for Technical Excellence in that score by Women In Film, Seattle Chapter.
In 2002, she collaborated with 5 other composers to produce the film score for the documentary "Behind Barbed Wire" a deeply moving film about the experience of the Bainbridge Island Japanese community before, during and since WWII.
In 2006, she collaborated with Penny Lovestedt, Steven Brush, and Tim Huling to compose the film score for "Henry Ward Elliott, Defender of the Fur Seals" a documentary dealing with the threatened extinction of the Northern Fur Seal population on the Pribilof Islands. This film is produced by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
For 5 years, as Music Specialist for Northwest Child Development Center, Francyl developed and taught her music curriculum for children, ages infant to 5 years old.
More recently she produced three CD's of her own compositions and other works. Pondpaddler's Fandango, a CD for children, "Love Songs of Heaven and Earth" and her newest collection, "Songs My Father Taught Me" are all available on this web site. She is currently Director of Youth and Children's Ministries at Grace Community Church and serves as music coordinator for the 8:00 worship service.