The paper argues for the importance and richness of gaze communication in two different musical settings: orchestra rehearsals and chamber music lessons. Of particular interest are the role and functions of gaze within orchestra rehearsals and chamber music lessons, focusing on the relationship between the institutional setting, participants’ spatial orientation, the presence of the score, and gaze behaviour. The theoretical framework for this study is Multimodal Conversation Analysis. While previous research within this approach primarily considers gaze direction and shifts for turn-taking and participation roles, the present study extends its scope to include various eye movements and expressions, such as closing, widening, squinting, or squeezing eyes – especially used by conductors in orchestra rehearsals. Key questions addressed include the strength of gaze in both settings as a contextualization resource for participation roles and interactional purposes and its use to perform other diverse actions, such as conveying emotional states or structuring the interaction. Through these inquiries, the study seeks to deepen the understanding of the multifaceted role of gaze in musical-instructional interactions and its implications for conductor-musician(s) and professor-student(s) dynamics.