Fran Griffin began life as a flute player, studying at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Australia, with renowned teachers Margaret Crawford and Michael Scott. Although she had been composing since the age of seven, while at the Conservatorium in the late 1970s, she put aside composition in favour of an interest in early music performance practice, studying baroque flute and recorder with Howard Oberg. She also participated in masterclasses, performances and discussions with visiting artists including Christopher Hogwood, Walter van Hauwe, Michael Radulescu, Barthold Kuijken and Gustav Leonhardt.
After a number of years working as a freelance musician, she returned to study, completing M.Sc. (Hons) in mathematics at Macquarie University, Sydney in 1999. Here she remained on staff until 2012, when she left Sydney to live in country NSW. Here she has renewed her previous life as a musician, teaching flute, clarinet and bassoon and performing once again with early music ensemble Nouvelles Réflexions and flute quartet Eclectix.
Fran has renewed her interest in composition, producing many arrangements and original works for students and for community concert bands and choir. Her serious compositions include arrangements and new works for flute quartet, flute duo, and other chamber combinations with flute. Her clarinet quartet Once there were birds was awarded third place in the 2018 International Clarinet Association Composition Competition, and was premiered in Ostend, Belgium in July 2018.