Improvisation plays a substantial role within the world's musical cultures. The purpose of this research was to explore the essence of the experience of confident music improvising. In this phenomenological study, confidence was considered a psychological experience and the confidence of improvisers the phenomenon under examination. The researcher compiled experiences through stories describing the phenomenon by interviewing three confident improvisers: a bluegrass fiddler, a jazz bassist and a baroque violinist. Vignettes portrayed the lifeworlds of these instrumentalists. The stories told were reduced through imaginative variation to identify which themes were essential, that is, shared among the participants' unique experiences. The essential themes revealed were: listening, criticism-free environment, sequential experiences, passion for a style, and openness to learning. Music educators could potentially use these themes to enrich their own improvisation pedagogy.