As Teddy Klaus recalls it, he had been living in the Washington area for about five years, doing some teaching and accompanying dancers like Liz Lerman and Helen Rea, and generally loving music. But, at age 29, he was unclear where it was all leading. Then one day in 1985, his father-in-law called to tell him about a job as a temple music director advertised in Washington Jewish Week.

Temple music? He had been raised in a Conservative family in New Jersey, was loyally Jewish, but had never put his love of music together with his love of being Jewish. Would it work? He shrugged and went for the interview. He was quizzed by Paul Greenberg, then a tenor in Temple Micah's volunteer choir and chair of the ad hoc music committee.

Greenberg recalls Rabbi Zemel - himself fairly new on the job - hoping that, with a new music director, "Temple Micah might move into a deeper and more encompassing mode of worship."

From the interview, one thing became clear to Greenberg: Although he was not a cantorial soloist and was not terribly familiar with synagogue music, Teddy Klaus was, of all the candidates, the "consummate musician." Greenberg put him at the top of the list for that reason, and Rabbi Zemel enthusiastically agreed.

Teddy Klaus' musings about his future were suddenly clarified. He was hired.

Teddy, as he is known temple-wide, had chosen music as his career while in graduate school at the University of Michigan. By then he had mastered the piano, clarinet, saxophone, guitar, trombone, trumpet and oboe; and he knew enough music theory to begin composing, as well as arranging the compositions of others. He had been accompanying dance classes at Dance Place, the Primary Movers for children and several area universities. He wrote music for his wife, choreographer Debby Kanter, as well as Lerman and others.

He brought all this to Temple Micah 20 years ago, along with his tremendous energy, capacity for hard work and commitment to excellence.

Combining his wide-open music portfolio with his Conservative religious education, Teddy gradually introduced new music to the volunteer adult choir as well as to the congregation at large. As simple a thing as opening the service with everyone singing a wordless, Ashkenazic niggun was a Teddy innovation that won everyone's hearts and voices. His exceptional musicianship and natural ability to teach also made it easier for the adult choir members - many of whom have never had musical training - to learn new pieces by Ben Steinberg, Bonia Shur, Jeff Klepper, Stephen Glass and others, as well as the ever-popular Debbie Friedman.

Alto Betty U., whose membership in the choir dates to its inception in 1964, remembers Teddy's arrival as the choir's fifth director. "He quickly proved to be the best we ever had," she said. "He's a lively leader and teacher. The new music he brings us is always interesting, and he has excellent rehearsal technique. Also, his versatility at the piano has saved us from disaster more than once!"

Sometimes his original choir arrangement of someone else's piece raises it from just so-so to inspirational. While he's not a famous, widely published Jewish composer, Teddy has contributed several original pieces to the liturgy, including the lovely "Priestly Benediction" he composed for his son's bar mitzvah. (Micah members are eager to hear the piece he is sure to compose for his daughter's bat mitzvah in a few years.)

Indeed, when any of the more famous composers visits Micah, as Benjie Ellen Schiller once did for a whole weekend, Teddy is warmly embraced as a colleague and peer. He is a card-carrying member of the Guild of Temple Musicians. For three years, he was its elected president and, for another three, its vice president for education. He has served on the Union for Reform Judaism's Joint Commission on Synagogue Music, the board of Transcontinental Music Publications (the leading publisher of Jewish composers) and the board of the American Conference of Cantors. He also co-chaired two conventions for the American Conference of Cantors/Guild of Temple Musicians.

The measure of how much he understands and contributes to Micah's total spiritual ambience is evident in his working relationship with cantorial soloist Meryl Weiner, who said she and Teddy have "a wonderful partnership." "Teddy understands the way I pray and knows my strengths, so he makes sure he is doing whatever he can to help me do my best on the bima, while I'm leading the congregation in prayer," she said. "And I can feel him praying at the piano - he expresses his deepest thoughts through his music. Plus, Teddy is an incredible musician. For example, he can change keys at the drop of a hat, can play any type of music and can improvise.

"We both love serving Temple Micah and I look forward to many more years as Teddy's friend and colleague."

Since its founding, Temple Micah has called itself a "teaching congregation." Teddy has done a lot to make that slogan ring true. He teaches music to the kindergarten and first grade, using simple songs to teach beginning Hebrew. He leads second-, third- and fourth-graders in the Youth Choir. And now, he's created the Makheilah, the new fifth-, sixth- and seventh-grade choir.

He also teaches sixth-graders trope during midweek Hebrew and tutors seventh- graders individually for their bar or bat mitzvah. For Purim, he teaches eighth-graders how to chant the Book of Esther. Soon afterward, Teddy begins teaching high schoolers how to chant the Torah for High Holy Days, which requires a different trope from the one chanted on Shabbat.

"I reach every kid from kindergarten through high school," Teddy said, "and it's very exciting."

Rabbi Zemel lists "life, creativity, flexibility, energy, involvement and loyalty" as the hallmarks of Teddy's presence on the temple staff. In the sanctuary, he said, Teddy's musical ability helps create "the fabric of spirituality," magically joining everyone in prayer and making them comfortable and even happy with the experience.

Today, looking back over his 20 years at Micah, Teddy agrees that he has "grown to appreciate music's role in enabling prayer. That's a hard thing for a musician to learn, and it can't really be taught. But I've come to understand it," he said. "As a result, though Meryl and I love music and love being musicians, I think we realize there is a higher calling for what we do."

That call continues.