Some ingredients in Nanton's unique "ya-ya" sound, however, are known: inserting a trumpet straight mute into the bell, using a large plumber's plunger outside the bell, and "speaking" into the instrument while playing. This sort of speaking involved changing the cavity of the mouth while silently reproducing different vowel sounds without actually vibrating the vocal cords. His palette of near-vocal sounds was radical for its time and helped produce the unique voicings in Ellington compositions, such as "The Mooche" "Black and Tan Fantasy", and "Mood Indigo".