With world music as the primary genre, the album's instrumentation varies greatly; even items such as kitchen utensils were used to create melodies and beats.

[2] Allison J. Waldman, author of The Barbra Streisand Scrapbook, claimed that the singer used this appearance to "update her image and her music" which would be more appealing for the general public.

[13] Barbra Streisand...and Other Musical Instruments opens with "Piano Practicing", a song adaptation by American television writer and pianist Lan O'Kun, from a classical composition by Paradisi.

[15] Fourth and seventh tracks "Glad to Be Unhappy" and "Don't Rain on My Parade", respectively, contain "distorted" rhythms and melodies.

[15] "I Never Has Seen Snow", written by Harold Arlen and Truman Capote, precedes Franz Schubert's Lied titled Auf dem Wasser zu singen.

[15] The final two tracks are the medley of "The World Is a Concerto" and "Make Your Own Kind of Music", with the album's closer ("The Sweetest Sounds") being accompanied by an "angelic" chorus.

The critic was positive of the release, claiming that Streisand's "fine tones and majestical power are sheer entertainment".

[14] AllMusic's William Ruhlmann awarded it three out of five stars, calling the album "more gimmicky than inventive" and ultimately a "forgettable misstep".

He also found her medley of "The World Is a Concerto" and "Make Your Own Kind of Music" to be odd because its instrumentation consisted of sounds created by household appliances.

Concluding, Ruhlmann claimed that Streisand's single release of "The Way We Were" helped erase any publicity for the album, which he considered a good thing.

Although he called it a "nice idea", he found the collection unnecessary and stated, "do we really need a Spanish version of 'Don't Rain on My Parade'?".