Erick Parris began piano lessons at age 6, and after several years of instruction, he began conducting his church choir at age 15. Later, he studied piano and choral conducting at the Conservatory of Music, earning a Diploma in Music Education with a specialization in Choral and Band Conducting in 1978.

In 1980, he traveled to Boston, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in composition and choral conducting from Atlantic Union College, and a master’s degree and PhD in composition and music theory pedagogy from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. There, for several years, he received the prestigious composition scholarship from composer Jeston Hairston and other scholarships from the College of Fine Arts and the University. Also, as a student, he won first place in an annual competition at the university for an orchestral symphonic work.

As a composer, he has written some 80 choral, orchestral, and chamber works. As a teacher, he worked in secondary schools and universities for several years. He has conducted numerous important choral and symphonic choral works with soloists and orchestras in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Panama, Costa Rica, Bermuda, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Venezuela, Mexico, Bulgaria, England, France, Hungary, Finland, Turkey, and Estonia.

As a university authority, he has served as director and dean of the music department at Antillean Adventist University and Atlantic Union College.

After living in the US for 33 years, he returned to Panama and became a music professor at the University of Panama. In August 2022 and 2023, he won first place in the Roque Cordero National Composition Competition in the choral and chamber music categories, respectively.