Desert Dancer,

Those things that you list are elements that are used in writing arrangements--how and where they are used is a matter of taste on the part of the arranger/arrangers, how well they work depends completely on the performance and ensemble skills of the musicians--

The first question that you have to work out is, where do your arrangements come from?

Here are some options:

1.Played from Written notation prepared by an arranger(not much used in folk music, at least nowadays)

2.Worked before hand out by one person, and taught to the group--

3. Copied note for note from other performers and worked out in practices(usually by listening to a recording)

4. Created during rehearsals by the group--

5. Worked out immediately before performance, without rehearsal--

7. By the direction of a leader, during the performance

7. Spontaneously arranged by the group during the actual performance--

All the other stuff falls into place after that--