Yes, Mark, I think Allen means they were moved to the keys shown, and IMO they are way too high!
There is something else about the Allen group's collection process that bothers me. I would bet, although they are tantalizingly incomplete in their remarks about this, that the people transcribing these would importune Old Joe or Titty Marta to sing to them so they could write down songs. As a solo. OK, but that ain't how they'd have really DONE them! When I teach a new one, I have to sing ALL the parts-- the call AND the response, the verse and the chorus, any ornamentation-- until the group has gotten the pattern and the tune and the feel of it. (Like all of what you see on a page in the Allen material.) But-- once the group gets it, my part becomes much more like the coxswain in a boat, or like the leader in an oldfashioned black gospel recording, or like the lead shouter probably led the shouts in slave times. The leader's part is clear, in every recorded spiritual I have ever heard, and distinctly separate from the rest of the piece, even if the leader sometimes sings parts of the response, too.
Yet in the Allen collection, the notation gives almost no hint that some phrases are called out by the leader and the rest are responses.... and unless you know that this is a characteristic of the genre-- in MANY songs the most prominent characteristic-- you'd never know it from picking up an Allen piece, and IMO the commentary is not clear enough about this except for a few references to "basing." It's tempting to think the melodies are written down wrong, where the intervals take an odd jump, not realizing there's a group of people about to chime in on the song, for whom that is THE phrase, THE interval to sing, exactly!
OK, rant off....
Yes I can change tempo... right now I am just sifting through the ones submitted, and unless they need other wrok I'm just going to adjust the tempo as I do the repeats. But I would encourage you to have some fun on the next ones you work on-- try out some of the tempi I outlined and see how you think they should go.
And yes, I have incorporated Allen's remarks into the increasing understanding I have of this genre; as I indicated in an earlier post, there have been several periods in the last 10 years when I was immersed in hearing the spirituals as performed by a number of people in a number of different time periods. (Love the Bahamian boat guys!) From all the stylistic creativity their recordings have captured, I've somehow gotten a pretty good ear for what they all have in common, such as the blue notes (where and when and why they occur), the pace and mood, the richness of the vocal quality....
When I play the MIDIs you three have created, there are several speeds at which, suddenly, I might as well be hearing a human voice sing them-- they come THAT alive. I can hardly do more than 8 or 9 quick listens, to 4 or 5 songs, before I feel like I have to sing along with these non-present people! It's kinda eerie, and very cool. I can't wait to do these in church with our highly-responsive Saturday Night crowd. I'll be doing them in the new way I discovered several months ago, and I guess maybe I'll say more about that later in the week.
I would say, for now, pick a tempo you think feels right when you listen to the next ones you have input. Send it to me that way; who knows, maybe it'll stick! :~)
BTW I have been looking at the Hampton collection. Drat! It's all harmonies! :~)