Keith Farrell is one of the senior instructors for the Academy of Historical Arts. He teaches HEMA professionally, often at international events, and has an interest in coaching instructors to become better teachers. His main area of expertise is fencing with the two-handed longsword according to the teachings of 15th century masters in the Liechtenauer tradition. However, he also enjoys fencing with the Scottish basket-hilted broadsword, with the sabre, and with a variety of different swords!
Keith has authored several books for Fallen Rook Publishing, including Scottish Broadsword and British Singlestick and the award-winning AHA German Longsword Study Guide. He maintains an active blog, posting at least once a week, and has also had several articles and interviews published in a variety of magazines and journals.
I teach regularly at Liverpool HEMA, and help behind the scenes with running HEMA in Glasgow at the Vanguard Centre.
He has been a member of HEMAC since 2011 and was awarded a HEMA Scholar Award for Best Instructor for research published in 2013. Although not a competitive person by nature, Keith has won several medals in historical fencing tournaments around the world, and has a strong rating in the HEMA Ratings initiative.
Read my recent articles
- Your words convey a message – but which message?
It should come as no surprise to any of us that your words convey a message. After all, that’s why we do the speaking for the communication. However, it may be a little more surprising what message is actually being conveyed when you choose a certain word or phrase. You … - Some thoughts about sparring and etiquette
Pretty much every HEMA club will engage in some kind of sparring or free play, and every club will have some form of etiquette that governs how people behave and how they handle situations that arise while sparring. It is very easy to get used to how things are done … - Motivation in a martial arts club
Motivation can be quite a difficult topic, and yet it is one of the most important things to understand if you want to run a happy, healthy, and successful club. Having had the experience of attending a variety of different martial arts and sports clubs over the years, I have … - Improving your club finances
One of the things that holds back many clubs is the issue of finances. There’s never enough money to do everything you want to do, to buy all the equipment you would like to have, to pay staff as much as they might want or need. So how can you … - Carrots and sticks, rewards and punishments
This is going to be a short article today, with some thoughts about the role of rewards and punishments during martial arts training. Films and TV series often show some kind of punishments in the dojo or training hall, and yet, this is rarely the best way to get any … - Knowing your list of British kings and queens
Schoolchildren have always grumbled when made to learn long lists of names, dates, and British kings and queens in their history classes. What is the use of such lists? Why would anyone need to know this sort of thing when you can find out by posing a quick question to … - Working on good habits rather than excessive detail
Good habits can be a powerful foundation for the practice of any martial art. Good habits are a pretty good basis for life in general, and I’m sure no one would disagree with that! And yet, when learning martial arts, it can be tempting to dive ever deeper into details … - Understanding Vor, Nach, and Indes – part 3: working in the bind
The concepts of Vor, Nach, and Indes are integral to the art of fencing according to Liechtenauer. The words and concepts can be interpreted in many different ways, and I have gone through many iterations over the last several years of practice and study. In these articles, I will offer …